Satyr and Bacchante
ca. 1650–95
Medium
Engraving
Dimensions
Sheet (Trimmed): 15 1/2 × 18 3/8 in. (39.4 × 46.7 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1951
Accession Number
51.501.7664
Art Historical Context
Behold the lively engraving *Satyr and Bacch*, a masterful collaboration between the Baroque genius Peter Paul Rubens and engraver Alexander Voet II created around 1650–95. This dynamic print captures a mythological revelry: a satyr—half-man, half-goat follower of the wine god Bacchus—embraces a bacchante, her flowing drapery and ecstatic pose evoking the wild Dionysian rites of ancient Greece and Rome. Rubens, the Flemish master of movement and sensuality, likely provided the original design, while Voet II's skilled burin translated it into intricate lines on copper plate. Engravings like th...
About the Artist
Peter Paul Rubens|Alexander Voet II · 1577–1640
Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640) stands as the most influential artist of the Flemish Baroque tradition and the greatest exponent of Baroque painting's dynamism, vitality, and sensuous exuberance. Born in Siegen, Westphalia, and raised in Antwerp, Rubens received a humanist education studying Latin and classical literature before pursuing artistic training under three masters: Tobias Verhaecht, Adam ...