Bacchanal with Silenus

1481

Andrea Mantegna

(Italian, about 1431–1506)

Culture

Italy, 15th century

Medium

engraving

Measurements

Sheet: 28.8 x 43.6 cm (11 5/16 x 17 3/16 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of Ralph King 1924.223

Catalogue raisonné

Hind 3

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Location

Not on view

Did You Know?

Like most artists in Renaissance Italy, Mantegna was often inspired by ancient Greek and Roman art. In this print, the revelers are positioned in the foreground of a shallow picture plane, reminding savvy viewers of a Roman frieze.

Description

This print was probably conceived by Andrea Mantegna as the right side of Bacchanal with a Wine Vat, which shows Bacchus crowned. Here, the central figure is also crowned, but unlike the wine god, he appears saturated with drink. The scene may come from the Roman poet Virgil (70–19 BCE). He described Bacchus’s teacher, Silenus, roused from a drunken sleep by two satyrs and a maenad and incited to sing so that his companions could dance. Silenus’s great wisdom was said to be generated by wine, but Renaissance artists more typically portrayed him as the embodiment of overindulgence.