The Triumph of Silenus

c. 1660

Gerard van Opstal (Flemish, c. 1597–1668)

Born and trained in Antwerp at the height of Peter Paul Rubens’s influence, Gerard van Opstal settled in Paris, where he contributed to the decoration of important private residences and royal projects like the Louvre. Adapting Rubens’s heroic figures and penchant for mythological themes to a smaller scale for private collectors, he excelled at carving delicate, playful reliefs showing the followers of Bacchus, the Roman god of wine, in marble and in ivory. Here, Silenus, the portly and permanently drunk companion of Bacchus, is the center of a noisy procession in which lively children imitate the behavior of their elders.

Status: On View, Gallery 208
Department: Painting and Sculpture of Europe

Artist: Gerard van Obstal
Title: The Triumph of Silenus
Place: France (Object made in)
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.: 1655–1665
Medium: Marble
Dimensions: 36.8 × 53.3 cm (14 1/2 × 21 in.)
Credit Line: Purchased with funds provided by Mrs. Eloise W. Martin and Mrs. Edward J. Uihlein through the Antiquarian Society, Mrs. DeWitt W. Buchanan, Jr., Kay and Frederick Krehbiel; Major Acquisitions Centennial, Jane B. Tripp and Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Varley endowments; through prior acquisitions of the Kate S. Buckingham Endowment
Reference Number: 1997.89
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/146877/manifest.json

Ian Wardropper, “Collecting European Sculpture at the Art Institute of Chicago,” Apollo 154,475 (2001), pp. 5-6, 12, fig. 5.
Art Institute of Chicago, “Gifts Beyond Measure: The Antiquarian Society and European Decorative Arts, 1987–2002,” Art Institute of Chicago Museum Studies 28,2 (2002), p. 85, ill.

Chicago, Art Institute of Chicago, “Case for Wine,” 11 July - 20 September, 2009 [no cat.].

Daniel Katz, Limited, London, by 1997; sold to the Art Institute, 1997.

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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.

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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.