Gilt bronze relief depicting the “Triumph of Bacchus,” created in France during the first quarter of the 19th century. The composition is based on the famous ancient cameo Triumph of Bacchus, discovered in 1661 during excavations along the Via Aurelia. It was soon acquired by Monsignor Camillo Massimo (1620–1677), a member of an old Roman family and an avid art collector who became a cardinal in 1670. The cameo became widely known through engravings by F. Buonarroti (1698, Osservazioni istoriche, Rome, p. 427) and P. Santi Bartoli (Gli antichi sepolchri, Rome 1697, plate 109). In 1780, it gained further prominence when Luigi Valadier (1726–1785) restored the piece and mounted it in a frame of his own design. In 1798, the cameo left Rome and reached Paris by 1801, where it remains in the collection of the Musée du Louvre. This finely crafted, scaled-down reproduction in fire-gilded bronze dates from the first half of the 19th century. The scene depicts Bacchus in a chariot drawn by four centaurs, who bear instruments such as the aulos, horn, cymbals, and a cornucopia. A standing couple holding vessels and a thyrsus is also shown, flanked by a winged Eros. Dimensions: H. 16.0 cm × W. 21.5 cm (Original: H. 28.8 cm × W. 41.2 cm) Literature: See Alvar González-Palacios, Luigi Valadier au Louvre ou l’Antiqué exaltée, exhibition catalogue, Musée du Louvre, Paris, Nov. 1994 – Feb. 1995, pp. 44, 54–69, no. 2.

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