UNIT 3
The Triumph of Bacchus
Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez was a Spanish painter, the leading artist in the court of King Philip IV. He was an individualistic artist of the contemporary baroque period, important as a portrait artist. In addition to numerous renditions of scenes of historical and cultural significance, he painted scores of portraits of the Spanish royal family, other notable European figures, and commoners. From the first quarter of the nineteenth century, Velázquez's artwork was a model for the realist and impressionist painters.
The Triumph of Bacchus is a 1629 painting by Diego Velázquez, now in the Museo del Prado, in Madrid. The painting shows Bacchus surrounded by drunks. It is popularly known as Los borrachos or The Drunks.
The painting presents a scene in which appears the god Bacchus crowning with a crown of vine leaves one of the seven drunk men around him. The crowned man can be a poet inspired by the wine. Another semi-mythological character observes the coronation. Some of the characters who are accompanying the coronation are looking at the spectator while smiling.
The work represents Bacchus as the god who reward or gift the men with the wine, which temporarily releases them from their problems. In the baroque literature, Bacchus was considered an allegory of the liberation of the man from his slavery of daily life. It is possible that Velazquez made a parody of the allegory by considering the allegory poor.
The scene can be divided in two halves. In the left, there is the very illuminated Bacchus figure, closer to the Italian style inspired by Caravaggio. Bacchus and the character left behind him refer to the classical myth and are represented by the traditional way. It can be highlighted the idealization of the god face, the clear light which illuminate him and a more classicist style. The right side, however, presents some drunkards, men of streets that invite us to join their party, with a very Spanish atmosphere, similar to José de Ribera style. There is no idealization in them, who present large and worn out faces. Neither the clear light which illuminates Bacchus is present in this side, and the figures are immersed in an evident chiaroscuro. Furthermore, the flick is more impressionist.
In this work, Velázquez introduce a profane aspect on a mythological subject, a tendency he would cultivate more during the following years. There are various elements that give naturalism to the work, like the bottle and the pitcher which appears at the ground close to the god's feet, and the realism of the god's body. Playing with the brightness, Velázquez gave relief and textures to the bottle and the pitcher, creating something like a still life.