Bacchanalia (Rubens)
Bacchanalia is a c. 1615 oil painting of Bacchus, Silenus, bacchantes and satyrs by Peter Paul Rubens.[1] Rubens frequently returned to the theme of Bacchus, such as in his Drunken Hercules (1612-1618, Gemäldegalerie, Dresden) Young Bacchus Supported by Two Satyrs (post 1614, now lost but known through the engraving of Jonas Suyderhoef CG Voorhelm-Schneevoogt's engraving in Catalog des estampes gravees d'apres PP Rubens, Haarlem 1875, p.133.), Sylvester's Retinue (1618, Alte Pinakothek, Munich) and the studio work Bacchanalia (1612-1614, Palazzo Durazzo-Pallavicini, Genoa).They all draw on classical art, particularly a relief sculpture of a drunken Hercules and Bacchic sarcophagi scenes - one of the latter is now in Moscow and was known to Rubens, who based a sketch entitled Drunken Heracles with a Faun on it.[2] It was recorded in 1735 in Robert Walpole's collection at Houghton Hall until was bought for the Hermitage Museum in 1779.