Bacchanalian Revel

One of America’s earliest mythological, or “history” paintings, Bacchanalian Revel depicts Bacchus, the Roman god of wine. In this scene revelers drink and dance before a “herm”, or pillar crowned with the torso and head of an ancient god. Mythological creatures such as maenads and satyrs dance around Silenus, the ancient god of dance and drunkenness and a companion of Bacchus. On the right, a female nymph makes an attention-grabbing gesture: she points to none other than the young Bacchus, a stumbling, drunken child depicted with his traditional thyrsus, or staff. Gustavus Hesselius, a Swede who was among the first formally trained painters to immigrate to America in 1711, was also the first religious and mythological painter in America, along with America’s first pipe organ builder.