Public domain
Pentheus Pursued by the Maenads
From the collection of Kunstmuseum Basel. Free to download, adapt and use — no permission needed.
About this work
The story of Pentheus, king of Thebes, is recounted among others in Ovid's "Metamorphoses" (Book 3) and in Euripides' tragedy "The Bacchae." Gleyre depicts Pentheus, after having forbidden the cult of Dionysus, being pursued in wild frenzy by the Maenads, the retinue of Dionysus. The painting was commissioned from Gleyre in 1859 by the Art Commission of the Öffentliche Kunstsammlung Basel. Granted free choice of subject, Gleyre began working on it in 1863.
Kunstmuseum Basel’s own descriptionSubjects
Credit linePenthée poursuivi par les Ménades. 1864. Marc Charles Gabriel Gleyre (1806–1874). Kunstmuseum Basel, Ankauf mit Mitteln des Birmann-Fonds. Public domain.
