Maenads in a Wood
Gustave Doré
(French, 1832–1883)
1879
Object PlaceFrance
Medium/TechniquePlaster
DimensionsOverall Height: 47 1/4 in. (120 cm); Width: 77 3/16 in. (196.1 cm); Depth: 9 7/8 in. (25.1 cm)
Credit LineGift of Mr. and Mrs. John L. Gardner in honor of Perry Townsend Rathbone and European Decorative Arts and Scultpure Curator's Fund
Accession number1994.192
On View
On viewClassificationsSculpture
Collections
Gustave Dore, known primarily for his book illustrations, prints, and paintings, turned to sculpture late in his career. It was only in 1871 that he began to learn to model, and he exhibited his first sculpture at the Salon of 1877.
This plaster relief is the second version of a sculpture inspired by his 1879 painting of the Death of Orpheus. Dore used the same background and composition in both reliefs; however, here the dead Orpheus is absent and the female woodland figures are not armed. He has depicted a bacchic dance of the Maenads, followers of Dionysus, god of the Orphic religion, who in a delerious frenzy killed Orpheus. This relief may have been intended to serve as an architectural decoration.
