#133: Bacchus to the Future

Bacchus, from the Giardino di Boboli in Florence, Italy

I posted the above photo of Bacchus — also known as Dioysus, the Greco-Roman god of wine, theatre and ecstasy — since the weekend is upon us and many will be out partaking in all this half-human half-god represents.

Michelangelo's Bacchus

According to his bio, “he is….the Liberator, whose wine, music and ecstatic dance frees his followers from self-conscious fear and care, and subverts the oppressive restraints of the powerful.” In other words, god of the weekend.

It’s funny, though, to search through images of Bacchus. Many ancient artists depicted him as slender, dignified and even somewhat seductive — all traits befitting a god of wine, theatre and ecstasy. Michelangelo’s Renaissance Bacchus displays significantly more feminine features, while some paintings show him as somewhat of a bravo, entrancing beautiful women with his charm.

An interesting representation of Bacchus that I came across is courtesy of Dutch painter Jan van Huysum. In A Classical Landscape With The Worship Of Bacchus he depicts a garden scene with a group of young women crowding around a statue of a slender and virile Bacchus while in the bottom left corner a figure that eerily resembles the statue at the top of this page struggling to dismount an ass.

Jan van Huysum's In A Classical Landscape With The Worship Of Bacchus

Yes, the Bacchus statue at the beginning of this post, though hundreds of years old, seems to represent a more modern representation of what we may envision someone who loves to drink, party and partake in all that brings ecstasy to look like (or, “Bacchus to the future” — see, I made the title work….sort of). Think out of shape, inebriated celebrity tabloid photos, or waking up with a really bad hangover, or even that 40-something uncle of yours who never married and still clings to his hard-partying youth.

Anyway, if you should partake in wine, theatre or ecstasy (or a combination of the three) this weekend, tip your glass to Bacchus. Half-way around the world, in a beautiful blooming garden, drunk and naked on his turtle, he salutes you.

This post appears as part of the FOCUS 365 photo blog component of Bastard Type