88 - Aimé-Jules DALOU (Paris, 1838–1902)

Aimé-Jules DALOU (Paris, 1838–1902) Laughing Bacchante Model created around 1884–1885 Patinated terracotta mask H: 21.5 cm In a gilded wooden frame with a red velvet backing (Dents and chips) Related works: -Aimé-Jules Dalou, Triumph of Silenus, 1884, bronze group, signed “DALOU/1884,” inscribed “THIEBAUT FRERES,” H 260 x W 198 x D 223 cm, Paris, Musée d’Orsay, Senate, inv. RF1166; -Aimé-Jules Dalou, Laughing Bacchante, model created circa 1884–1885, 1907, patinated plaster cast, 21 x 15 x 10.5 cm, Paris, Petit Palais, inv. PPS02569; -Aimé-Jules Dalou, Laughing Bacchante, circa 1884, terracotta mask, H. 20.9; W. 15.5; D. 12.6 cm, Paris, Musée d’Orsay, inv. RF 3769. Related literature: -Edouard Papet, Masks: From Carpeaux to Picasso, exhibition catalog. Paris, Musée d’Orsay, October 21, 2008–February 1, 2009; Darmstadt, Institut Mathildenhöhe, March 8–June 7, 2009; Copenhagen, Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, August–October 2009; -Amélie Simier, Jules Dalou, Sculptor of the Republic, exhibition catalog, Paris, Petit Palais, April 18–July 13, 2013, Paris, Paris Musées, 2013, model listed under no. 123, p. 189; -James David Draper, Edouard Papet, *The Passions of Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux*, New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2014, fig. 69. Our bacchante mask is a sketch for the face of one of the figures in the monumental group *The Triumph of Silenus*, one of Jules Dalou’s major works. It was upon his return from a trip to Brussels that Dalou began work on *The Triumph of Silenus*. During this trip, he studied 17th-century Flemish painting, particularly the works of Peter Paul Rubens and Jacob Jordaens. It was in this context—and still deeply influenced by the aesthetic sensibilities of these two great masters of the Flemish Baroque—that Dalou produced numerous sketches and preparatory works. Following his usual creative process, he modeled numerous freestanding statuettes, sketches of isolated figures, and masks, such as our terracotta “Laughing Bacchante.” After years of experimentation and attempts, Dalou submitted the full-scale plaster model to the 1885 Salon. It was not until 1894 that the work was finally acquired by the government on the recommendation of the Inspector of Fine Arts, Henry Havard, to be cast as a monumental bronze, which was installed in the Senate gardens in 1898 at the artist’s express request. Two other versions of this mask are known to exist: one, a patinated plaster cast, is housed at the Petit Palais, while the other, a terracotta piece, is part of the Musée d’Orsay’s collection.