Bacchanal 1695 - 1742

François Roëttiers created this etching titled 'Bacchanal' sometime in the early 18th century. The scene depicts a revelry in honor of Bacchus, the Roman god of wine, fertility, and theatre. In Roëttiers's time, France was ruled by an absolute monarch, Louis XIV, who used theatre and spectacle to awe his subjects and consolidate power. Images of classical antiquity helped to legitimize his rule by associating him with the glory of the Roman Empire. The art academy became a tool of the state, training artists to create works that glorified the king and promoted his political agenda. Roëttiers's choice of subject, the god of theatre, might be seen as a comment on the role of spectacle in the French court. But it is also an embrace of pleasure and excess, values that were often suppressed in the name of order and reason. As an art historian, I might consult period sources such as court records, academy documents, and contemporary writings to better understand the work's original context. Art gains meaning from the social and institutional contexts in which it is made and viewed.