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Young Bacchus Riding a Leopard Led By a Satyr Blowing a Horn

A work made of etching on ivory laid paper.
CC0 Public Domain Designation

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  • A work made of etching on ivory laid paper.

Date:

1647

Artist:

Wenceslaus Hollar (Bohemian, 1607-1677)
after Petrus van Avont (Flemish, active 17th century)

About this artwork

Wenceslaus Hollar engraved book illustrations and several series of frieze-like bacchanal prints for his friend the Flemish painter Pieter van Avont, whose specialties also included devotional images of cherubs similar to ancient figures of the infant Eros. This sheet shows a wreathed infant Dionysos astride a leopard, an animal sacred to the god. The taller satyr blowing his horn at the front leads the procession onward in search of the next vineyard. Avont and Hollar may have been aware of Giuio Carpioni’s contemporaneous example of the children’s bacchanal (1942.348), with its more realistic, yet eerier figures.

Status

Currently Off View

Department

Prints and Drawings

Artist

Wenceslaus Hollar

Title

Young Bacchus Riding a Leopard Led By a Satyr Blowing a Horn

Place

Bohemia (Artist's nationality:)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

Made 1647

Medium

Etching on ivory laid paper

Dimensions

14.3 × 21.2 cm (5 11/16 × 8 3/8 in.)

Credit Line

Elizabeth Hammond Stickney Collection

Reference Number

1887.443

IIIF Manifest  The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.

https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/138598/manifest.json

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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