Anacreon with the Infants Bacchus and Cupid (Modeled 1878, cast c. 1893): Artwork and History

Anacreon with the Infants Bacchus and Cupid (Modeled 1878, cast c. 1893) is in the Art Institute of Chicago collection. The museum lists its creator attribution as Jean Léon Gérôme (French, 1824–1904).

The work and its context

The Art Institute of Chicago describes the work:

In the early 19th century, industrial approaches to production created a new middle-class market for small-scale bronze statuettes, which were displayed in domestic interiors. This statuette is a reduced version of a larger-than-life composition depicting the ancient Greek poet Anacreon cradling Bacchus and Cupid. As the god of wine and pleasure, the infant Bacchus is wreathed in vine leaves and holds a bunch of grapes. Cupid, god of love, bears feathered wings and presses his cheek to the poet’s. French bronze foundry Barbedienne reproduced this popular work in five different sizes.

Object facts

• Title: Anacreon with the Infants Bacchus and Cupid
• Date: Modeled 1878, cast c. 1893
• Artist attribution: Jean Léon Gérôme (French, 1824–1904)
• Place of origin: France
• Medium: Bronze
• Dimensions: 72.4 × 43.8 cm (28 1/2 × 17 1/4 in.)
• Type: Sculpture
• Department: Painting and Sculpture of Europe
• Reference number: 1893.287

Collection credit

Gift of Gustave Leblanc Barbedienne

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The description above is credited to the Art Institute of Chicago and reused under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0; HTML formatting has been converted to plain text. Other catalogue metadata and the public-domain image are provided under CC0 1.0.