Stefano Trapanese (1963) - SATIRO E BACCANTE

Stefano Trapanese is a leading artist in the province of Salerno, Italy, and is consistently ranked in the top 10 of national profile masters in Italy (source: PitturiAmo.com).
THE THEME OF THE PAINTING
The painting depicts, artistically, a sculptural group based on the myth of the 'Satyr with the Baccante,' by the Franco-Swiss sculptor Jean Jacques Pradier. It was presented in 1834 at the Salon Carré of the Louvre Museum in Paris. The satyr, a mythological character hybrid between man and goat, seizes the Baccante, who, in a static pose, clings to the neck of the rural deity that symbolizes temptation and desire. Observing the sculpture, one wonders whether the girl, clearly intoxicated, is offering herself to her lover or, conversely, trying to escape his advances.

Curiosity
Pradier's work, at the time, caused great scandal and sparked endless gossip. That sculpture, which today can be considered at most sensual, was even seen as pornographic back then.
Velenose rumors, probably spread by mediocre colleagues evidently driven by envy, suggested that Pradier had used a life cast to create the Baccante, a practice unacceptable at the time. Someone soon recognized, in the features of the nude girl, Juliette Drouet, Pradier's lover who would later become the concubine and muse of the writer Victor Hugo.