The triumph of Bacchus

The triumph of Bacchus; Bacchus on a horse-drawn cart moving to left; various satyrs carrying the spoils including armour and vessels.

Engraving, 1534, signed with monogram and dated on a tablet at upper left.

The Triumph of Bacchus and Arianna is a famous song, written to cheer a party, by Lorenzo de' Medici on the occasion of precisely the carnival of 1490. This composition describes the triumph of a masked chariot, that of Bacchus, accompanied by a retinue: Arianna, Silenus, King Midas, nymphs and satyrs. The song describes and accompanies the parade of masked floats with mythological themes, designed by Lorenzo himself.

The Triumph of Bacchus and Arianna is an exaltation of the Horatian carpe diem (seize the moment, i.e., enjoy the moment without thinking of the future); the beginning of the composition recites the famous: Quant'è bella giovinezza che si fugge tuttavia.

God of fruitful nature and agriculture, Dionysus (or Bacchus to the Romans) is said to have first introduced wine to mankind. Bacchus, therefore, represents not only love but also the full enjoyment of earthly pleasures, such as feasts, wine, joy, and dancing. He is often depicted as a man with a head crowned with vine leaves, usually intoxicated and holding a cup of wine. Satyrs represent sexual and natural impulses; they were mythological beings, genies of the woods, mountains and waters with bodies half human and half goat. Silenus was an old man, leader of the satyrs, tutor and companion of Bacchus who raised him with love and followed him faithfully in his travels.

The worship of the wine god in Rome, and its celebration, brought so much inconvenience to the community that the Roman senate forbade it in 186 B.C. with the Senatoconsult de Bacchanalibus.

Monogrammist VG, an unidentified engraver of ornamental prints in the manner of Aldegrever and Proger, was active from 1534 to the mid-16th century.

Shortly before 1520, some young artists in Albercht Dürer's circle took to making very small engravings that challenged the viewer with a miniature world of new secular subject matter and unconventional interpretations of traditional themes. Because of the small size of their engravings, these artists have long been affixed with the collective, and unflattering, name of Small Nuremberg Masters. The core of the group consists of three artists from Nuremberg, Hans Sebald & Bartel Beham and Georg Pencz, and in addition Jacob Bink from Cologne and Heinrich Aldegrever from Soest.

Beautiful proof, printed on contemporary laid paper without watermark, trimmed to the copperplate, minimal restorations to the left and right edge, otherwise in good condition.

A very rare work.

Bibliografia

Nagler 1858-79, Die Monogrammisten (V.1177); Bartsch, Le Peintre graveur (IX.23.3).