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Andrea Mantegna

Bacchanal with a Wine Vat

1470–80
engraving

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In the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland · as of July 2026

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FROM THE CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF ART’S CATALOG

Philosophers and moralists cautioned against drinking straight from the vat, because, as Bacchus's exalted pose suggests, only a god could handle such an intoxicating drink. Mere mortals usually mixed their wine with water until the 1800s.

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