The Triumphal Procession of Bacchus
around 1536/37 | Maerten van Heemskerck
Bacchus, the ancient god of wine, is returning in triumph from India to Greece; this is suggested by the panther and the god’s dark-skinned companions. In this picture, probably painted just after Heemskerck’s stay in Rome, his style of painting people, inspired by Roman Mannerism, reached a first peak of expression. Heemskerck creates a wishful image of the humanistically informed 16th century in a combination of extraordinary, humorous and coarsely drastic elements with the smoothly polished nudity of antiquity.
Bacchus, the ancient god of wine, is returning in triumph from India to Greece; this is suggested by the panther and the god’s dark-skinned companions. In this picture, probably painted just after Heemskerck’s stay in Rome, his style of painting people, inspired by Roman Mannerism, reached a first peak of expression. Heemskerck creates a wishful image of the humanistically informed 16th century in a combination of extraordinary, humorous and coarsely drastic elements with the smoothly polished nudity of antiquity.
Artist:
Maerten van Heemskerck (1498 Heemskerck - 1574 Haarlem) DNB
Time:
around 1536/37
Object Name
Painting
Culture
Netherlandish
Material/technology:
oak wood
Dimensions:
56 cm x 106,6 cm x 3,4 cm
Framed: 68 cm x 118 cm x 6,5 cm; Tiefe inkl.
Signed
Inscribed at lower left at the base of the colossal foot: Martinus Hemskerkius pingebat
Copyright
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Gemäldegalerie
Invs.
Gemäldegalerie, 990
Provenance
Coll. Leopold Wilhelm