Bacchanal

Prints and Drawings

1633/78

Giulio Carpioni
Italian, 1613-1678

The 18th-century author P. A. Orlandi once described Carpioni’s mythological etchings as “perfect conceptions, such as dreams, sacrifices, bacchanals, triumphs, dances of ‘putti,’ the most attractive caprices and fantasies that a painter, inclined to work on a small scale, has ever conceived.” This bacchanal of dwarf-like humans and shaggy satyr youths becomes more enigmatic with the addition of the figures at right. The naked man lounges in the pose of a statue of a river god, but his placement before an ancient altar relief, with a glimpse of a covered basket, implies that one of the ritual mysteries is taking place in conjunction with the wine consumption.

Status: Currently Off View
Department: Prints and Drawings

Artist: Giulio Carpioni
Title: Bacchanal
Place: Italy (Artist's nationality)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: Artist's working dates 1633–1678
Medium: Etching on ivory laid paper
Dimensions: 12.3 × 40.6 cm (4 7/8 × 16 in.)
Credit Line: The Joseph Brooks Fair Collection
Reference Number: 1942.348
IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.: https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/45035/manifest.json

Calabi 9

Bartsch 20

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