A Bacchante

Leopards pulled Bacchus's chariot. He was believed to have conquered India where he acquired a triumphal train including leopards, bacchantes and satyrs. Greuze painted many versions of this subject, there is a very similar painting in the Wallace Collection, London (P407), although the woman is looking to the right rather than to the left. The Wallace painting was used as a basis for other paintings. The same may be true of the Waddesdon picture.

Greuze was well-known for his sentimental genre scenes, portraits and studies of expressive heads (têtes d'expression). He painted many such works in the later half of the 18th century. He was made an associate member of the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture in 1755, but did not submit his reception piece until prompted 12 years later. For this piece, he tried to experiment with the genre of history painting, but without success and was received only as a painter of everyday subjects. During the French Revolution he made many versions of his 'Head of a girl' such as this, which were very popular. They kept him afloat financially in this difficult time, and after an expensive divorce in 1792. His work was widely collected and remained popular until the last few years of his life. The interest in Greuze resumed in the latter part of the 19th century. By the end of the century studies of girl's heads such as this made record prices.

Another of the Waddesdon paintings by Greuze also shows a bacchante (acc. no. 2489.2). Both paintings came from the collection of Prince Nicolas Demidoff, a member of the immensely wealthy Russian family who made their money in mining and metalwork. His son, Anatole, was a great art collector and had a villa near Florence. According to the 1870 sale catalogue, this was the first of a large number of paintings by Greuze that Nicolas Demidoff acquired.

Phillippa Plock, 2011

Dimensions (mm) / weight (mg)

458 x 382

Signature & date

not signed or dated

Inscriptions

60
Inscription
[verso, frame, upper right, chalk]

Labels

41
Label
[verso, stretcher, centre centre, stencil mark on paper]

Tableaux 34
Label
[verso, lower left, old lettering on label in ink]

PORT. OF A GIRL DRAPED
IN LEOPARD SKIN
GREUZE
Label
[verso, stretcher, upper left, ink]

144
Label
[verso, stretcher, upper left, round label, ink]

Tower Room
Greuze Right entering
Top
Label
[verso, stretcher, lower right, ink]

Tower Room
Right of door entering
(Top)
Label
[verso, frame, lower left, ink]

Provenance

• Acquired by King Stanislaus August Poniatowski of Poland (b.1732, d.1798) before 1798; bought from the King of Poland by Prince Nicolas Demidoff (b.1774, d.1828) before 1798; by descent to Prince Anatole Demidoff (b.1813, d.1870); sold in the Prince Anatole Demidoff of San Donato sale Paris, 26 February 1870, lot no. 111 for 58,000 francs; acquired by Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild (b.1839, d.1898); inherited by his sister Alice de Rothschild (b.1847, d.1922); inherited by her great-nephew James de Rothschild (b.1878, d.1957); bequeathed to Waddesdon (National Trust) in 1957.

Collection

• Waddesdon (National Trust)
• Bequest of James de Rothschild, 1957

Bibliography

• Charles Mannheim; b.1833, d.1910, Charles Pillet; active c 1860-1919; Collections de San Donato. Objets d'art...; 1870; Paris; p. 78, lot 111, ill.; engraved by Rajou
• Camille Mauclair; Jean-Baptiste Greuze ... (Catalogue raisonne de l'oeuvre peint et dessine de J-B Greuze etabli par les soins de M J Martin avec la collaboration de M C Masson); Paris; [n. pub.]; 1905; p. 29, no. 424; wrongly as in Wallace Collection
• Anita Brookner, French Pictures at Waddesdon, The Burlington Magazine, 101, 1959, 271-273; p. 271; as 1785-1795
• Ellis Waterhouse, Anthony Blunt; Paintings: The James A. de Rothschild Collection at Waddesdon Manor; Fribourg; Office du Livre, The National Trust; 1967; p. 236, ill. cat. no. 106

Related files

• • http://wallacelive.wallacecollection.org/eMuseumPlus?service=ExternalInterface&module=collection&objectId=65341&viewType=detailView [accessed 14 July 2011, related painting in Wallace, P407]
  • http://wallacelive.wallacecollection.org/eMuseumPlus?service=ExternalInterface&module=collection&objectId=65341&viewType=detailView [accessed 14 July 2011, related painting in Wallace, P407]

Subjects

• Figures/Female
• Figures/Notable Body Parts/Breasts
• Nature, Landscape & The Elements/Fruits/Grapes
• Mythology/Gods & Goddesses/Bacchus
• Mythology/Attributes
• Mythology/Mortals/Bacchante
• Animals/Mammals/Leopard
• Nature, Landscape & The Elements/Clouds
• Nature, Landscape & The Elements/Trees & Plants/Grapevine or Vine

Genres

• Mythological Subjects/Genres