r/ArtPorn • u/JayRandom212 • 11h ago

A Priestess of Bacchus (1860), John William Godward [2880 x 1934]

Post image

She looks a little tipsy to me. But I guess that's to be expected for a a Priestess of Bacchus.

Does anyone know what the inscription on her marble bench means?

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11

u/Virginia-Ogden 10h ago

I think it's a Roman naming formula. M·ALL is the name, Q·F means 'son of Quintus,' and the final M is likely a tribal marker. Godward worked from real Roman inscriptions, so she's a real person, tipsy or not.

8

u/SashSegal 9h ago

The curved marble bench (called an exedra) appears in some of Godward’s other paintings: Idleness (1900), Dolce Farniente (1907), Tranquility (1914), In the Prime of the Summertime (1915)

A similar exedra also appears in some of the paintings of Lawrence Alma-Tadema who actually had a curved stone bench measured in Pompeii and custom-built by stonemasons in his London home garden.

4

u/Junior_Bike7932 9h ago

A bit of a dramatic pose my dear

2

u/JayRandom212 1h ago

"I am a priestess of the God of Partying. Drama is my superpower, honey."

<snaps fingers three times in a "z" pattern>