Athenians wearing masks celebrate the vintage by dancing around a statue of Bacchus and sacrificing a goat to him. Engraving by P. Lombard, 1654, after F. Cleyn.

  • Cleyn, Franz, 1590?-1658.
Date:
1654
Reference:
26088i
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Description

Virgil, Georgics II. 380-384. The ancient Athenians (Theseidae, descendants of Theseus) are sacrificing a goat to Bacchus to celebrate the vintage, the origin of tragic drama. In the left background, women hang effigies on the branches of trees as described in Georgics II. 388-389 ("Et te, Bacche, vocant per carmina laeta, tibique / Oscilla ex alta suspendunt mollia pinu.") Far left, a goat damaging the bark of a tree, the reason for its selection as the victim

Publication/Creation

1654

Physical description

1 print : engraving

Contributors

Lettering

Non aliam ob culpam Baccho caper omnibus aris / Caeditur, et veteres ineunt proscenia ludi. Praemiaque ingentes pagos et compita circum / Thaeseidae posuere: atque inter pocula laeti /Molibus in pratis unctos satiere per utres. Rogero Bysshe de Fene-Place armigero tabula merito votiva. F. Cleyn, in ; P Lombart, sculpsit, Londini Bears number in top right "84"

Reference

Wellcome Collection 26088i

Exhibitions note

Exhibited in “Joy” at Wellcome Collection, 15 July 2021 - 27 February 2022
Exhibited in ‘Hello Happiness!’ at Deutsches Hygiene-Museum, Dresden, 27 May – 19 November 2023

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