Claude Michel CLODION (1738-1814) Bacchante Priestess of Bacchus  -  Created circa 1780-1784 later bronze cast as most bronzes. 
Bronze with a brown gold patina signed « Clodion » on its back part. Height 14cm. 
Provenance : Private collection Lille.

A seductive half dressed lady who is a priestess of Bacchus belongs to
the iconographic tradition of Maenads or Bacchantes. In Greek mythology,
 maenads were the female followers of Bacchus, the god of wine. During
Bacchanalia, Roman festivals of Bacchus, this Greco-Roman god of wine,
freedom, drunkeness and ecstasy was honored. Maenads were portrayed as
inspired by Dionysus into a state of ecstatic frenzy through a
combination of dancing and a lot of wine. The Priestess of Bacchus,
‘bacchante’, was a favorite theme for nineteenth century artists because
 of the ecstatic youthfulness of the bacchantes.