Bacchus (Leonardo)
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| - | [[Image:Bacchanalia by Leveque.jpg|200px|thumb|''[[Bacchanalia]]'' by [[Auguste (Maurice François Giuslain) Léveque]] <br> The Bacchanalia were traditionally held on [[March 16]] and [[March 17]]]] | ||
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| - | [[Bacchus]], the [[Roman god]] of [[wine]] and [[intoxication]], known as [[Dionysus]] to [[Greek]]s. | + | |
| - | ===Art=== | + | '''''Bacchus''''', formerly ''Saint John the Baptist'', in the [[Musée du Louvre]] is based on a drawing by the [[Italian Renaissance]] artist [[Leonardo da Vinci]] but is presumed to have been executed by an unknown follower, perhaps in Leonardo's workshop. [[Sidney J. Freedberg]] assigns the drawing to Leonardo's second Milan period. Among the Lombard painters who have been suggested as possible authors are [[Cesare da Sesto]], Marco d'Oggiono, [[Francesco Melzi]], and [[Cesare Bernazzano]]. The painting shows a male figure with garlanded head and leopard skin, seated in an idyllic landscape. He points with his right hand off to the right, and with his left hand grasps his thyrsus. |
| - | * [[Bacchus (Leonardo)]], painting of [[John the Baptist]] | + | |
| - | * [[Bacchus (Michelangelo)]], marble sculpture depicting Bacchus in an inebriated state | + | The painting originally depicted ''[[John the Baptist]]''. In the late seventeenth century, between the years 1683 and 1693, it was overpainted and altered, to serve as ''[[Bacchus]]''. |
| - | * [[Bacchus and Ariadne]], an oil painting by [[Titian]] | + | |
| - | * [[Bacchus and Ariadne (ballet)|Bacchus and Ariadne]], a [[ballet]] by [[Albert Roussel]] | + | [[Cassiano dal Pozzo]] remarked of the painting in its former state, which he saw at [[Château de Fontainebleau|Fontainebleau]] in 1625, that it had neither devotion, decorum nor similitude, the suavely beautiful, youthful and slightly androgynous ''Giovannino'' was so at variance with artistic conventions in portraying the Baptist— neither the older ascetic prophet nor the Florentine baby ''Giovannino'', but a type of Leonardo's invention, of a disconcerting, somewhat ambiguous sensuality, familiar in Leonardo's half-length and upward-pointing ''[[St. John the Baptist (Leonardo)|Saint John the Baptist]]'', also in the Louvre. |
| - | * [[Bacchus (Caravaggio)]], a painting held in the [[Uffizi Gallery]], Florence | + | |
| - | * [[Young Sick Bacchus]], an early self-portrait by [[Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio]], now in the [[Galleria Borghese]] in Rome | + | The overpainting transformed the image of St. John into one of a pagan deity, by converting the long-handled cross-like staff of the Baptist to a Bacchic [[thyrsus]] and adding a vine wreath. The fur robe is the legacy of John the Baptist, but has been overpainted with leopard-spots relating, like the wreath, to Bacchus, the Roman god of wine and intoxication. |
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Bacchus, formerly Saint John the Baptist, in the Musée du Louvre is based on a drawing by the Italian Renaissance artist Leonardo da Vinci but is presumed to have been executed by an unknown follower, perhaps in Leonardo's workshop. Sidney J. Freedberg assigns the drawing to Leonardo's second Milan period. Among the Lombard painters who have been suggested as possible authors are Cesare da Sesto, Marco d'Oggiono, Francesco Melzi, and Cesare Bernazzano. The painting shows a male figure with garlanded head and leopard skin, seated in an idyllic landscape. He points with his right hand off to the right, and with his left hand grasps his thyrsus.
The painting originally depicted John the Baptist. In the late seventeenth century, between the years 1683 and 1693, it was overpainted and altered, to serve as Bacchus.
Cassiano dal Pozzo remarked of the painting in its former state, which he saw at Fontainebleau in 1625, that it had neither devotion, decorum nor similitude, the suavely beautiful, youthful and slightly androgynous Giovannino was so at variance with artistic conventions in portraying the Baptist— neither the older ascetic prophet nor the Florentine baby Giovannino, but a type of Leonardo's invention, of a disconcerting, somewhat ambiguous sensuality, familiar in Leonardo's half-length and upward-pointing Saint John the Baptist, also in the Louvre.
The overpainting transformed the image of St. John into one of a pagan deity, by converting the long-handled cross-like staff of the Baptist to a Bacchic thyrsus and adding a vine wreath. The fur robe is the legacy of John the Baptist, but has been overpainted with leopard-spots relating, like the wreath, to Bacchus, the Roman god of wine and intoxication.
