Bacchant (a Young Satyr) Offers a Panther to Drink

There is considerable complexity to this drawing, not least in view of its size. Thorvaldsen touches on several variations on the meeting between an animal on the one hand and a fabulous or mythological creature with human features on the other. Playfulness and lyricism are the dominant qualities, while in other works from the same period Thorvaldsen is occupied with some of the most serious themes in ancient literature.