LabelGian Lorenzo Bernini was the heroic central figure in Italian Baroque sculpture. The influence of his father, the Florentine-born Pietro, can be seen here in the buoyant forms and cottony texture of the Bacchanal. The liveliness and strongly accented diagonals, however, are the distinctive contribution of the young Gian Lorenzo. Although about eighteen when he made this work, he already displayed what would become a lifelong interest in the rendering of emotional and spiritual exaltation. The Bacchanal reveals the young Bernini's intensive study of bacchic subject matter.

ProvenanceGian Lorenzo Bernini(in 1706; listed in 1706 estate inventory); Casa Bernini, Rome(18th century); [ Palais Galliera, Paris, May 26, 1972, lot 74, ill.]; [ Christie, Manson and Woods, London, March 21, 1973, lot 191, ill.]; [ Art market, Switzerland, by January 1975]; [ Di Castro, Rome, 1975]; [ P.D. Colnaghi, London, by Nov. 1975 – 1976; sold to MMA]