The highly finished marble statue of Bacchus, was made in Rome 1496/7 when Michelangelo was only 21, was acquired by Francesco de' Medici in 1572, and kept in the Uffizi Gallery of the Grand Dukes of Tuscany until it was moved to the Bargello Museum in 1871. It helped to establish Michelangelo's reputation as a sculptor to rival, perhaps even to surpass, the ancients (see Vasari on Michelangelo in Prologue to Part Three of the Lives and Summers, Michelangelo and the Language of Art, p. 266).
Michelangelo Buonarroti 1475-1564
Bacchus c.1497
Marble statue, 203cm high (inc. base)
Provenance: Commissioned by Cardinal Riario, 1496; bt Jacopo Galli, 1496; garden of the Casa Galli, Rione Parione, Rome; Francesco de'Medici, 1571-2; transported to Florence (Uffizi); Bargello, Florence, 1873
Collection: Bargello Museum, Florence
For a reproduction of this artistic work, please consult: Poeschke, Joachim, Michelangelo and his World, (Harry N. Abrams, 1996), pl.13-16 or alternatively www.abcgallery.com/M/michelangelo/michelangelo11.html