The Triumphal Procession of Bacchus

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.