Double-sided Bust

Two back-to-back busts of bacchantes. Carrara marble. Italy, 1st quarter of the 19th century. This marble presents two faces of women in the antique style. It bears the inscription “BACCHA”, bacchante in Latin, on the base of each face. The idealized faces of pure neoclassical style are not differentiated, unlike the figure of Janus. As followers of Bacchus' procession, they represent a typology of mythical beings. Carefully worked, the hair of the two figures presents graceful windings at its ends as well as in the detail of the locks which are placed in front of the ears.