Satyr Trying to Wake Silenus with a Grapevine
c. 1540
Medium
Engraving in black on ivory laid paper
Dimensions
Plate: 20.2 × 31 cm (8 × 12 1/4 in.); Sheet: 21.5 × 31.5 cm (8 1/2 × 12 7/16 in.)
Classification
engraving
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
44294
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
The dangers of overindulging become comically clear in Giorgio Ghisi’s lively engraving. Silenus—Bacchus’s lustful, frequently inebriated companion—appears in a wine-induced stupor, empty pitcher in hand. The attendant teasingly trying to wake Silenus with a bunch of grapes (instead of more wine) may be a reference to the hangover relief now known as the hair of the dog, or in this case, the hair of the goat. Ghisi made this print in a shallow bas-relief style after a drawing by Giulio Romano, a...
About the Artist
Giorgio Ghisi · 1520–1582
Giorgio Ghisi (c. 1520–1582) was one of the most accomplished engravers of the Italian Renaissance, renowned for translating the monumental compositions of Raphael, Giulio Romano, and Michelangelo into the exacting medium of the burin. Born in Mantua, he trained in an environment shaped by the legacy of Giulio Romano's decoration of the Palazzo del Te, and the grandeur of that Mannerist tradition ...