Essay On Anacreon With Infants Bacchus And Cupid

Anacreon With Infants Bacchus and Cupid by Jean Leon Gerome was modeled in 1879 and cast in bronze in 1893. The artist started this subject as a painting about a poem that was written by the fifth century Greek poet Anacreon who received a visit from Bacchus, god of wine, and Cupid, god of love, in his house. At a later date he returned to the subject but instead of a painting he made it into a full scale marble piece that was later cast into a smaller two foot bronze cast that is at the Art Institute of Chicago, and was made into copies because the composition proved to be popular enough. The sculpture itself does have a very strong composition, including balance, light and the detail on the figures themselves. With it being only a couple hundred years old the statue does not have any missing parts and everything is intact from what is immediately visible to the eye of the viewer, the original marble (which I have not had the pleasure of viewing) may have intricate pieces missing,. Anacreon is holding both of the small infants which are the gods, Bacchus and Cupid, in his arms. All of their heads are looking down and it gives them a very dark shadow which is cast upon their faces, this could be considered slightly eerie because the faces are not quite visible, but looking at it from another angle you can see the smile on Anacreon’s face as he looks at the infant cupid sitting on his left arm, looking at the statue it

The composition of Anacreon With Infants Bacchus and Cupid is rather strong because of how Gerome decided to place the gods in Anacreon’s arms, with Bacchus on the left lounging with his head deep on the right and his toes directing eye towards Cupid and since he is sitting up it directs the eye to Anacreon’s