Study for the Bacchus frieze originally in the dining room of the palace of Duke Maximilian of Bavaria in Munich; verso: Study of a standing nude male figure with a helmet

This drawing by Ludwig Michael Schwanthaler, the most accomplished member of a family of German sculptors, relates directly to the enormous frieze he made for the dining room of Duke Maximilian of Bavaria's palace in Munich. (The frieze is now in the city's Landeszentralbank, the palace having been destroyed by the Nazi regime in 1938). Measuring 143-feet across in its entirety, the frieze depicts, in four segments, the life of Bacchus, mythological god of wine--a fitting subject for a dining room. The present drawing corresponds to the first segment, depicting Bacchus's birth and the death of his mother, Semele, to his eventual kidnapping by pirates.


Another drawing for this portion of the frieze, somewhat closer in its details to the final scupture, is in the Harvard Art Museums. The present work evidently represents an earlier phase of planning on Schwanthaler's part. The drawing bears several measurements and other signs of its use in the studio.