• Bertel Thorvaldsen

  1770-1844

• Authenticity

  Posthumously done

Mercury Brings Bacchus to Ino

• Production Date

  1889

• Type of Work / Object

  Sculpture > Relief

• Location

  • Denmark > Copenhagen > Thorvaldsens Museum > Main Floor > Room 14

• Inventory Number

  A796

• Catalogue Number

  A796

• Catalogue Level / Collection

  Thorvaldsen's Art > Thorvaldsen's Sculptures (A)

Explanation

• Bacchus was the result of a relationship between Jupiter and Semele, but Jupiter’s wife discovered what was going on and brought about the death of Semele. So Jupiter asked Mercury with the winged hat to give Bacchus’s child to Semele’s sister Ino so that she could look after him. Thorvaldsen executed the original plaster model in Rome in 1809.

Motif / Theme

• Human > God > Dionysos / Bacchus
• Human > God > Hermes / Mercury
• Human > Goddess > Leukothea / Leucothea

Additional Catalogue Information