Triumph of Bacchus, Jean Jacques Spoede (Antwerp 1680 – Paris 1757)

Jean Jacques Spoede (Anvers 1680 – Paris 1757)

Triumph of Bacchus

Oil on canvas (66 x 83 cm. – In frame 84 x 101 cm.)

Full details (click HERE)

In this fascinating painting, attributable to Jean Jacques Spoede (Antwerp, 1680 – Turin, 1752), we find ourselves immersed in the beating heart of a bacchanal, a pagan festival in honor of Bacchus, god of wine and drunkenness, a Dionysian celebration that mixes sensuality, mythology and unbridled joy.

This is a fascinating subject, with ancient origins, specifically the propitiatory celebrations held at the end of the grape harvest as a rite of thanksgiving and conviviality to involve the farming community in dances and songs, often accompanied by theatrical performances dedicated to the veneration of Bacchus, for his ancestral ties to the Roman god of wine.

A Flemish painter active in Italy, Spoede is known for his ability to blend Nordic precision with the elegance and theatricality of the Italian Baroque. After moving to Turin, he worked for the court of Savoy, distinguishing himself for his mythological and allegorical scenes, and our painting is a perfect example: refined, cultured, yet surprisingly sensual.

A painting of his very similar in subject and details is currently exhibited at the National Museum in Poznań, painted between 1720 and 1730 (oil on canvas, 120 x 160 cm., https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Spoede_Bacchanals.jpg *

The image offers us an opulent and lively vision, with a work that exalts the beauty of the body, the joy of the senses, and the freedom of the spirit, in a true apotheosis of the myth of Bacchus, restoring to the viewer a timeless universe, where myth and nature, art and desire merge in an eternal embrace.

At the center of the composition is a monumental wine barrel adorned with vine shoots, reminiscent of a secular altar. Around it, an exuberant dance of bodies unfolds, accompanied by the music of flutes and tambourines. Semi-naked bodies and mythological figures, including satyrs and nymphs, intertwine in a whirlwind of movement, music, and pleasure. A satyr at the center, crowned with vine leaves, raises his cup to the sky in an ecstatic gesture, evoking the spirit of Bacchus and celebrating wine as divine lifeblood.

On the ground, children, both satyrs and humans, play among bunches of grapes, personifying innocence lost in sensual lust, and a leopard, alluding to the wild, primordial energy that characterizes these celebrations.

The setting is lush: a luxuriant vegetation embraces an architectural fountain in the background, almost a forgotten temple, now reborn in Dionysian triumph. A golden light, typical of Baroque painting, caresses the bodies and faces, enhancing the sensuality and euphoria of the moment.

This setting acts as an imaginary portal between the earthly world and the mythological sphere: on the left side, in fact, some peasants with baskets overflowing with grapes, the fruit of the harvest, watch the scene, with amazement or veneration, suggesting the link between everyday life and the mythological dimension, between the sacred and the profane.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

The work is completed by a pleasant gilded wooden frame and is sold accompanied by a certificate of authenticity and descriptive iconographic card.

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