Bacchante, 19th century

West Building, Ground Floor - Gallery 39

Medium

marble

Dimensions

overall: 161.2 x 44.4 x 49 cm (63 7/16 x 17 1/2 x 19 5/16 in.)

Credit Line

Samuel H. Kress Collection

Accession Number

1952.5.97

Artists / Makers

French 19th Century (sculptor)

Image Use

This image is in the public domain.
Read our full Open Access policy for images .

Inscription

on plaque, on back, screwed to base: BACCHANTE / Provenant de la Propriete / de Madame ELISABETH / Soeur du Roi Louis XVI / a VERSAILLES

Provenance

Possibly Madame Elizabeth de France, Palais de Montreuil, Versailles.[1] Possibly Richard Seymour-Conway, 4th marquess of Hertford [1800-1870], London and Paris; possibly his illegitimate son, Sir Richard Wallace [1818-1890], London and Paris; possibly his wife, Amélie-Julie-Charlotte Castelnau, Lady Wallace [1819-1897], Paris and London; possibly her adviser and secretary, Sir John Murray Scott [1847-1912], London and Paris.[2] Charles T. Yerkes, Jr. [1837-1905], Chicago and New York, by 1904.[3] (his estate sale, American Art Association, at the Yerkes New York residence, 11-13 April 1910, 2nd day, no. 249, as by Falconet);[4] Samuel J. Untermyer [1858-1940], Yonkers, New York; (his estate sale, Parke Bernet, New York, 15-17 May 1940, no. 973, as by Clodion). (Duveen Brothers, Inc., London, New York, and Paris); purchased 1949 by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York; gift 1952 to NGA.

[1] A bronze plaque attached to the back of the sculpture's base gives this provenance, but it cannot be corroborated; see the discussion by Ulrich Middeldorf, Sculptures from the Samuel H. Kress Collection: European Schools, XIV-XIX Century, London, 1976: 112-113.

[2] The chain of owners from Hertford to Scott is given in the Duveen prospectus for the sculpture (in NGA curatorial files), but no other documentation has yet been found to support it. See Middeldorf 1976, 113, where he mentions another sculpture that was probably bought by Yerkes from Scott in 1902.

[3] Catalogue of Paintings and Sculpture in the Collection of Charles Tyson Yerkes Esq., New York, New York, 1904: no. 86, repro., as by Falconet.

[4] The 1910 Yerkes sale, at which the NGA sculpture was purchased by Untermyer, was kindly brought to the attention of NGA sculpture curators by Laure de Margerie, in her e-mail of 23 April 2021 to C.D. Dickerson and Alison Luchs, in NGA curatorial files. She referenced, and sent images from, two versions of the sale catalogue, one with annotations and both in the library of the Clark Art Institute, Williamstown.

Associated Names

Duveen Brothers, Inc.
France, Elizabeth de, Mme.
Kress Foundation, Samuel H.
Parke-Bernet Galleries, Inc.
Scott, John Murray, Sir
Seymour-Conway, 4th marquess of Hertford, Richard
Untermyer, Samuel J.
Wallace, 1st bt., Richard, Sir
Wallace, Amélie-Julie- Charlotte Castelnau, Lady
Yerkes, Charles T., Jr.

Bibliography

1951: Paintings and Sculpture from the Kress Collection Acquired by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation 1945-1951. Introduction by John Walker, text by William E. Suida. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1951: 266, no. 120, repro., as A Bacchante with Cluster of Grapes in Left Hand by Clodion.

1959: Paintings and Sculpture from the Samuel H. Kress Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1959: 456, repro., as by Clodion.

1965: Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 149.

1968: National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 131, repro., as by Clodion.

1976: Middeldorf, Ulrich. Sculptures from the Samuel H. Kress Collection: European Schools XIV-XIX Century. London, 1976: 112.

1994: Sculpture: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1994: 94, repro.

1999: Norman Herz, Katherine A. Holbrow and Shelley G. Sturman. "Marble Sculture in the National Gallery of Art: a Provenance Study." In Max Schvoerer, ed. Archéomatériaux: marbres et autres roches: ASMOSIA IV, Bordeaux, France 9-13 october 1995: actes de la IVème Conférence international de l’Association pour l’étude des marbres et autres roches utilizes dans le passé. Talence, 1999: 101-110.