Bacchus and Drunken Silenus—The Dream of Silenus

Discussion

FROM THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO’S CATALOG

This etching after a Rubens painting of 1610/15 (Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna) boasts an opulent display of half-filled and drained drinking vessels, a passed-out Silenos and an unfazed Dionysos, who continues sipping from the basin into which his attendant is squeezing grapes. The drunken scene suggests a Greek symposium, despite the outdoor setting and lack of couches. Fascinated by antiquity, Rubens built a Pantheon-like museum complete with an oculus at his Antwerp home. It housed 90 ancient sculptures, including several satyr heads and torsos, which he acquired en masse in 1618 in trade for paintings and tapestries.

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