Bachanalia c. 1655 - 1660

Jacob Jordaens made this sketch of a "Bacchanalia" with pen, ink, and watercolor sometime in the 17th century. Here we see the artist delving into the classical past of the Ancient Greeks and Romans, and their pagan gods of wine, fertility, and ecstatic ritual. The Bacchanalia were secretive and wild, often associated with the lower classes and those on the margins of society. The Roman senate eventually outlawed them, and their depiction in art has always been politically charged. It's interesting to note that Jordaens was Flemish. The Netherlands were, at this time, throwing off the yoke of Spanish Catholic rule and establishing a new, more tolerant social order. Perhaps the idea of a Bacchanalia, with its overtones of freedom and transgression, had a special appeal in this context. As an art historian, I might dig deeper into the archives, read period literature, and examine the social mores of 17th-century Flanders to shed more light on this work. Because art never exists in a vacuum, it’s always shaped by specific social and institutional forces.