Artwork Page for The Bacchanal

Details / Information for The Bacchanal

The Bacchanal

c.1490–1536

Daniel Hopfer

(German, c. 1470–1536)

after Andrea Mantegna

(Italian, about 1431–1506)
Culture
Germany
Medium
etching
Measurements
Platemark: 21.1 x 28.4 cm (8 5/16 x 11 3/16 in.); Sheet: 21.9 x 29.1 cm (8 5/8 x 11 7/16 in.)
Credit Line
Dudley P. Allen Fund 1925.620
Catalogue raisonné
Hollstein XV.86.57
State
II/II
Public Domain
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Location
Not on view
Print
?

Did You Know?

The ancient Greek philosopher Plato, who was still widely read in the sixteenth century, wrote that wine could enhance creativity and even unlock divine ecstasy.

Description

Andrea Mantegna was among the first artists in Italy to produce engravings. His scene of a bacchanalia, a wine-fueled festival of ancient Rome, is composed as if on a shallow stage, attesting to Mantegna’s interest in relief-carved Roman sarcophagi (stone coffins). Standing with his horn of plenty, Bacchus is in control of his senses. The mortals around him falter from too much drink. When Mantegna began making engravings in the 1470s, he was among the first to use the technique to reproduce drawings. Many of Mantegna’s engravings show printing imperfections, the result of a shallowly carved printing plate and ink that did not adhere evenly to the paper. The later copy looks quite different. Daniel Hopfer employed the nimbler technique of etching and had access to higher-quality inks and papers.
A horizontally oriented print in black ink depicts nude figures and horned satyrs. On the left, a bearded man carries another on his shoulders beside a standing nude figure. In the center, two figures, one crowned with leaves, embrace atop a wooden tub, while infants sleep on the ground below. To the right, a horned figure drinks from a cup. A large fruiting vine with a small plaque grows in the background.

The Bacchanal

c.1490–1536

Daniel Hopfer, Andrea Mantegna

(German, c. 1470–1536), (Italian, about 1431–1506)
Germany

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