This is a small study for part of the much larger figure of Silenus in Dalou’s La Triomphe de Silene, a sculpture erected in the Luxembourg Gardens in Paris in 1898. Silenus is the character in ancient Greek mythology who symbolises drunkenness and debauchery; he is sometimes depicted riding a donkey or goat and accompanied by fauns, satyrs and maenads. In its vigorous modelling and lively realism, Dalou’s bronze comes very close to the qualities of Rodin’s work.
