Bath of Sardanapalus
Medium
Engraving in black on ivory laid paper
Dimensions
Image/plate/trimmed to sheet: 15.9 × 15.6 cm (6 5/16 × 6 3/16 in.)
Classification
engraving
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
43523
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
Sardanapalus was a mythical ancient Assyrian king known for his excessive pursuit of physical pleasure. He appears here being bathed by a bevy of women, though he was said to have many concubines of both genders. Johann Theodor de Bry copied and reshaped another artist’s rectangular print of a moralizing subject to create this composition, surrounding it with a sumptuously detailed border of foodstuffs, animals, and grotesque hybrid creatures.
About the Artist
Johann Theodor de Bry · 1561–1923
Comment on works: copper engraver