Object Image

Bacchante with lowered eyes

Commissioned by the architect Charles Garnier for the facade of the Paris Opéra, Carpeaux's monumental decorative sculpture La Danse was unveiled on July 26, 1869. The figural group, consisting of a slim central youth shaking a tambourine, with a putto at his feet and encircled by six joyously dancing bacchantes, quickly became the talk of Paris for its frank sensuality and unidealized female nudes. Nearly as shocking was the act of vandalism to which the sculpture was subjected when, during the night of August 27, 1869, a bottle of ink was hurled at it, staining the left front bacchante. Despite its controversial reception, La Danse (now in the Musée d'Orsay, Paris) is regarded by many as the ...
1872
Terracotta
2.0 x 9.0in
11.10
Image and text © Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2019

Where you'll find this

The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Permanent collection