Scene with Bacchantes 1653

Jacob van Loo made this oil on canvas painting entitled, Scene with Bacchantes, in the Netherlands during the 17th Century. It depicts a bacchanal, a scene of revelry associated with the Roman god Bacchus. Here, the painter references a classical subject. In van Loo's time, paintings like this were usually commissioned by wealthy men for display in the private sphere. These paintings served as conversation pieces. The classical subject matter would have been seen as both educational and entertaining. What is interesting is the use of nudity and the way it depicts a rejection of social convention in favour of nature. Paintings from this period are fascinating documents through which we can understand the private lives and social attitudes of powerful people from the past. To learn more, one can examine estate records or commissioning contracts, which are preserved in local archives.