Bacchante 1642 - 1644

Pietro Testa made this drawing of Bacchante in Italy sometime in the first half of the 17th century. It depicts a scene of revelry, inspired by the Roman god Bacchus and his followers, the bacchantes. It is difficult to overlook the strong cultural influences of antiquity and the revival of classical themes in the early modern period. The figure of Bacchus and his entourage are recurring characters that find their ways into all forms of art, be that painting or sculpture. We can read Testa’s drawing as a comment on the social structures of his time through the lens of history. Art historians look at a range of source material to understand the image better: contemporary literary sources, accounts of the life of the artist, and information about artistic institutions of the time, such as the Roman Academy of St Luke. This helps us understand the meaning of art as something that is contingent on social and institutional context.