Anon. Bacchante after Giovanni Battista Cipriani

An original early 19th-century graphite drawing Bacchante after Giovanni Battista Cipriani.

One of a fine pair that we have for sale (see stock number JY-824), this beautiful graphite drawing is after a mythological subject by the 18th-century Italian painter and engraver Giovanni Battista Cipriani RA (1727–1785).

In ancient Greek and Roman mythology the bacchantes, or maenads, were priestesses or female followers of the god Bacchus (Greek: Dionysus).

This delicate drawing, and its pair, represent the elegant neo-classical decorative taste that prevailed in Britain in the 18th century. Cipriani regularly received commissions to decorate public buildings and private households, attracting patronage from the likes of King George III, as well as of Lords Charlemont, Tylney and Anson. At Somerset House he prepared the decorations for the interior of the north block, including the rooms into which the Royal Academy moved in 1750, which now houses the Courtauld Gallery.

Cipriani’s reputation as an artist was further spread by way of engravings after his works made by his lifelong friend Francesco Bartolozzi. There is a stipple engraving of the present subject by Bartolozzi published around the 1780s.

In graphite on wove paper.