The lower part of the figure is stiff, and the manner in which the shoulders are united to the breast, and the neck to the head, abundantly inharmonious.

It is altogether without unity, as was the idea of the deity of Bacchus in the conception of a Catholic.

On the other hand, considered merely as a piece of workmanship, it has great merits.

The arms are executed in the most perfect and manly beauty; the body is conceived with great energy, and the lines which describe the sides and thighs, and the manner in which they mingle into one another, are of the highest order of boldness and beauty.

It wants, as a work of art, unity and simplicity; as a representation of the Greek deity of Bacchus, it wants everything." Jacopo Gallo is said to have also purchased a Cupid from Michelangelo.
It has been suggested, with great plausibility, that this Cupid was the piece which Michelangelo began when Piero de' Medici's commission fell through, and that it therefore preceded the Bacchus in date of execution.