A CLOSER LOOK
The Art Institute of Chicago dates this plaster sculpture to about 1892. It is 81.3 centimetres high, with a width of 54.6 centimetres and a depth of 54 centimetres. Those dimensions give the intertwined group a substantial physical presence while leaving its gestures available for close viewing.
In the museum’s account of the myth, Ariadne has been abandoned on Naxos when Bacchus discovers her. Dalou chooses the moment of awakening. The faun’s offering of grapes connects the nearby action to the god of wine and gives the viewer a second exchange to follow beside the central embrace. The story unfolds through the relationships between bodies.
This plaster was exhibited at the annual Paris Salon in 1892. The museum identifies it as the model for a later marble version at the Clark Art Institute in Massachusetts. That history makes the plaster a documented stage in the composition’s development. The Chicago record supplies no detailed sequence of alterations between the two versions, so differences in carving or finish require examination of the marble itself.
Dalou studied with Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux and developed an early reputation through scenes of contemporary life, including nursing mothers. He later worked on public historical and allegorical commissions. Here, a mythological subject still depends on an intimate human encounter. Reading the figures’ proximity as an invitation to emotional attention is an interpretation of the sculpture, supported by the museum’s identification of the awakening and the faun’s gesture.
