.... // .... Your Satyr and Bacchante is far from being an "almost perfect" copy of the original marble and I know of no other version that differs from it to this point! Which does not detract from his interest, quite the contrary. All the differences are probably not visible on the two photos that you sent me, but here are the ones that I could note:
The left arm of the Bacchante passes under the right arm of the Satyr. On marble, the reverse is the case: the right hand of the Satyr supports the head of the Bacchante. On the marble, she supports her right shoulder.
The left hand of the Bacchante rests on the right shoulder of the Satyr. On the marble, she grabs the hair of the Satyr behind his head.
The Bacchante seizes with his right hand the left horn of the Satyr. On the marble, she grabs the right horn and her fingers are placed between the two horns
The horns of the Satyr are much longer than those of the marble Satyr.
The legs of the Bacchante are more apart than those of the Bacchante in marble.
A section of the drapery that the Satyr raises with his left hand crosses the top of the left leg of the Bacchante and hangs between her thighs. On the marble this drapery passes under his left thigh.
The heads differ in several details from the heads of the marble figures: more open eyes of the Bacchante, narrower and more open mouth, grapes in her hair less clear and less numerous; Satyr's eyebrows more visible and curved upwards near the nose, absence of folds on his forehead, ears less detached and less detailed, beard less detailed and perhaps less long, etc.
The right shoe of the Satyr is not split like that of the marble Satyr (the left shoe is not visible in the photos).
A flower appears on the base instead of the pine cone of the thyrse found on the base of the marble.
And above all, there is this strange anatomical protuberance which comes out from the right side of the Satyr and which ends, truncated, under the left breast of the Bacchante. Nothing like it on marble. What can it be ?!
If you have other photos, you will undoubtedly be able to note other differences by comparing them with the photos of marble on the Insecula site or in the Atlas database of the Louvre.
The measures you indicate are quite close to those of marble:
Bronze Louvre Lille
H. approx. 1.20 m H. 1.25 m H. 1.20 m
L. approx 1.30 m L. 1.12 m L. 1.10 m
P. approx. 0.90 m P. 0.78 m P. 0.82 m
I do not know any copy of this size, apart from the plaster (original model?) Kept at the Lille Museum which is almost identical to marble. Otherwise, several reductions in bronze, plaster, terracotta, porcelain, alabaster, etc. are known and some have gone on sale in recent years (see Artprice as well as the sales advertised on the Pradier Forum since 2003). Reductions in plaster were already in circulation during Pradier's lifetime. As for the number of copies that were made, before or after his death, it is impossible to know. Not much, anyway.
All hypotheses are possible: according to a primitive Pradier model, lost or destroyed? after a recent or old model executed by another sculptor who deliberately modified it compared to marble? ... // ...
Douglas Siler
