David Bird, 13, was on a trip to the London museum with mum Deborah when he was drawn to an 1879 sculpture by Aimé-Jules Dalou, entitled Bacchanal.
Bacchanal means a worshipper of Bacchus, the Roman god of agriculture, wine and fertility, and is used to describe a “wild and drunken celebration”.
The painted plaster sculpture – almost 6ft in diameter – depicts four worshippers of Bacchus taking part in a drunken orgy.
It shows naked figures, one woman on the ground and three men; one smiling in ecstasy, one holding a bunch of grapes, and another holding the woman down.
But the gallery label states the scene shows worshippers of the Bacchus, the Greek god of wine.
The Greek god of wine is actually Dionysus, also the god of orchards, fruits, vegetation, fertility, festivity, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstasy and theatre.
This story is from the June 23, 2024 edition of Sunday Express.
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This story is from the June 23, 2024 edition of Sunday Express.
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