Bacchus as a child c. 1640

Jacob Jordaens painted ‘Bacchus as a child,’ a classical scene rendered in oil paint, sometime between 1603 and 1678. It is a Baroque painting of the Roman god of wine, theatre and fertility. Jordaens’ Bacchus is not the idealized vision of the Roman god, but instead a fleshy, earthly baby. He is surrounded by ripe fruit and the tools of merriment: wine jugs and glasses. The figure of Bacchus is complex. He represents the sensuous, ecstatic side of life. The grape vine headdress and the abundance of fruit and wine, are visual metaphors for cultural traditions that have long celebrated nature’s bounty. The painting may also subtly allude to themes of mortality and the ephemeral nature of pleasure. Jordaens invites us to reflect on the multifaceted relationship between humans, nature, and the divine.