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Drunken Silenus

Date

1628

Creator

Jusepe de Ribera

Location

Raclin Murphy Museum of Art

Jusepe de Ribera was a Spanish artist who worked primarily in Naples, and he is best known for his religious paintings made during the Counter Reformation. He produced only eighteen prints in small editions, and his Drunken Silenus (1628) is considered to be his best etching. The subject is a variation of a painting now in the Museo di Capodimonte, Naples, Italy. He was widely admired, including by Rembrandt and Goya, for his brutal naturalism and his skill at depicting varieties of textures (i.e., wood, skin, and fur). from Calendar of Events, September-December 2012 A reclining, nude Silenus props himself up on one arm, lifting a cup in his other hand to be filled by a satyr standing behind him. Another satyr stands to the left, crowning him with a wreath woven of grape vines. A baby sleeps at Silenus’s feet while his companion drinks from a wine cup. The head of a braying donkey occupies the upper right of the composition. Two additional figures peek from behind a boulder, the female figure holding a tambourine. A large vat of grapes provides the backdrop for the scene, compressing the foreground and focusing attention on the flabby and obviously inebriated god. written by Cheryl K. Snay, Ph.D., Curator of European and American Art before 1900, 2020

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Jusepe de Ribera was a Spanish artist who worked primarily in Naples, and he is best known for his religious paintings made during the Counter Reformation. He produced only eighteen prints in small editions, and his Drunken Silenus (1628) is considered to be his best etching. The subject is a variation of a painting now in the Museo di Capodimonte, Naples, Italy. He was widely admired, including by Rembrandt and Goya, for his brutal naturalism and his skill at depicting varieties of textures (i.e., wood, skin, and fur). from Calendar of Events, September-December 2012 A reclining, nude Silenus props himself up on one arm, lifting a cup in his other hand to be filled by a satyr standing behind him. Another satyr stands to the left, crowning him with a wreath woven of grape vines. A baby sleeps at Silenus’s feet while his companion drinks from a wine cup. The head of a braying donkey occupies the upper right of the composition. Two additional figures peek from behind a boulder, the female figure holding a tambourine. A large vat of grapes provides the backdrop for the scene, compressing the foreground and focusing attention on the flabby and obviously inebriated god. written by Cheryl K. Snay, Ph.D., Curator of European and American Art before 1900, 2020
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  • Jusepe de Ribera was a Spanish artist who worked primarily in Naples, and he is best known for his religious paintings made during the Counter Reformation. He produced only eighteen prints in small editions, and his Drunken Silenus (1628) is considered to be his best etching. The subject is a variation of a painting now in the Museo di Capodimonte, Naples, Italy. He was widely admired, including by Rembrandt and Goya, for his brutal naturalism and his skill at depicting varieties of textures (i.e., wood, skin, and fur). from Calendar of Events, September-December 2012 A reclining, nude Silenus props himself up on one arm, lifting a cup in his other hand to be filled by a satyr standing behind him. Another satyr stands to the left, crowning him with a wreath woven of grape vines. A baby sleeps at Silenus’s feet while his companion drinks from a wine cup. The head of a braying donkey occupies the upper right of the composition. Two additional figures peek from behind a boulder, the female figure holding a tambourine. A large vat of grapes provides the backdrop for the scene, compressing the foreground and focusing attention on the flabby and obviously inebriated god. written by Cheryl K. Snay, Ph.D., Curator of European and American Art before 1900, 2020
  • Jusepe de Ribera was a Spanish artist who worked primarily in Naples, and he is best known for his religious paintings made during the Counter Reformation. He produced only eighteen prints in small editions, and his Drunken Silenus (1628) is considered to be his best etching. The subject is a variation of a painting now in the Museo di Capodimonte, Naples, Italy. He was widely admired, including by Rembrandt and Goya, for his brutal naturalism and his skill at depicting varieties of textures (i.e., wood, skin, and fur). from Calendar of Events, September-December 2012 A reclining, nude Silenus props himself up on one arm, lifting a cup in his other hand to be filled by a satyr standing behind him. Another satyr stands to the left, crowning him with a wreath woven of grape vines. A baby sleeps at Silenus’s feet while his companion drinks from a wine cup. The head of a braying donkey occupies the upper right of the composition. Two additional figures peek from behind a boulder, the female figure holding a tambourine. A large vat of grapes provides the backdrop for the scene, compressing the foreground and focusing attention on the flabby and obviously inebriated god. written by Cheryl K. Snay, Ph.D., Curator of European and American Art before 1900, 2020
Jusepe de Ribera (Spanish, baptized 1591 - 1652)
1628
Prints
Etching with drypoint, engraving and burnishing on laid paper
2012.020
Bacchus
donkeys
drinking
intaglio prints
mythology
Silenus
wine
Not on view, please request access
10 1/2 x 13 5/8 in. (26.67 x 34.61 cm)
Bequest of Dr. Paul J. Vignos Jr., ND ’41 and Edith Ingalls Vignos Fund

Our collection information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. If you have spotted an error, please contact Raclin Murphy Museum of Art at RMMACollections@nd.edu.