Bacchante and Infant Faun

1894

Although initially celebrated in Paris, the larger version of this sculpture provoked a scandal when it arrived in Boston to be installed at the newly built public library. Bostonians were shocked by the figure's unidealized nudity and by the subject, considered a glorification of drunkenness. The original was eventually given to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Despite the controversy, the work became very popular and many smaller versions—including this bronze—were made.

Medium	bronze
Dimensions	34 1/2 x 10 in. (87.6 x 25.4 cm)
Object Number	1955.17
Acquisition	Acquired by Sterling and Francine Clark before 1955
Status	On View

Image Caption

Frederick William MacMonnies, Bacchante and Infant Faun, 1894, bronze. Clark Art Institute, 1955.17

Select Bibliography

Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Exhibit Four: First Two Rooms. Exhibition catalogue. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1955. Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Exhibit Four & Exhibit Seven. Exhibition catalogue. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1958. Williams College Museum of Art, Williamstown, Massachusetts.. The Field Room in Context. Sept. 1-Dec. 31, 1988.. 1988.. Lovett, Jennifer Gordon. The Art and Craft of Nineteenth-Century Sculpture. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1994. Mainardi, Particia. The Persistence of Classicism. Exhibition catalogue. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1995. New York: Whitney Museum of American Art.. Catalogue of the Collection.. 1931.. New York: Whitney Museum of American Art.. Catalogue of the Collection.. 1937.. Hildegard Cummings.. "Chasing a Bronze Bacchante.". William Benton Museum of Art Bulletin, 12.. 1984.. Boston: Museum of Fine Arts.. American Figurative Sculpture in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.. 1986.. Conrads, Margaret C. American Paintings and Sculpture at the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. New York: Hudson Hills Press, 1990. Gordon, Jennifer A. Cast in the Shadow: Models for Public Sculpture in America. Exhibition catalogue. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1985.

Provenance

James Henry Smith; to (American Art Association, sale of the Smith mansion and collection, Jan. 18-22, 1910, no. 215), to J. Payne Whitney, Esq., New York; to Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney (his widow)l to the Whitney Museum of American Art, Nov. 17, 1931; to (M. Knoedler & Co, New York), to Robert Sterling and Francine Clark, May 1, 1950 to Clark Art Institute, 1955.