Psyché glancing towards a young female in a light blue tunic

 

In this large painting Bouguereau portrays  Bacchus amidst a wild, dancing crowd of his companions.

Within the picture there a many characters some of which appear familiar in other works. The centre of the work shows a group of characters dancing, one of which by the way she is dressed appears to be Psyché who is dancing with her arms aloft while holding the hands of the male behind. She looks as if she is glancing towards a young female in a light blue tunic at the back of the painting who is holding a wine goblet in her right hand and a bunch of grapes in her left hand. The girl seems to be reciprocating her glances by staring back in the direction of Psyché with a longing playful look in her eyes.

At the front of the painting a nymph wearing a Leopard skin is happily dancing while holding the hand of a bacchante who presumably has collapsed on the floor in a drunken state . She is sprawled out on the floor with  her Thyrsus (A giant fennel staff decorated with vines and a fur cone) under her. To the right of the nymph is a young male with a cherub perched upon his shoulders waving a tambourine. To the right of him  two cherubs one of which is holding a triangle are dancing with another bacchante who is wearing a white tunic. She is holding her thyrsus in her right hand and is staring at the cupid to her left.

Behind her the female in the dark blue tunic is staring into space while playing what appear to be castanet's made from shells. To their right a male stands with his arms raised playing the cymbals. There are also two centaurs one of which is playing dual pipes while the other appears to be holding two items in his raised hands of which it is hard to see. On the left hand side of the painting a donkey struggles to carry a very drunk looking Bacchus who is holding an empty wine goblet in his left hand while both his arms are draped around two satyrs who appear to be struggling to keep him on his mount. He is wearing a vine which is covering his genital area. To his left a partially naked girl holds a tambourine filled with grapes. She is staring in the direction of  Psyché. In front of her a young male dances naked and appears to be trying to catch her eye.