Bacchanals

This painting of a Bacchanal, around 1609, held in the Glynn Vivian Art Gallery in Swansea, depicts a Bacchic revel — a celebration honoring the god of wine. Such subjects were popular among collectors for their combination of mythological learning and sensuous content. Reni's treatment of Bacchic themes demonstrates his ability to adapt his characteristically refined and idealized style to subjects requiring greater physical vitality and earthy energy than his usual devotional subjects. The Glynn Vivian collection was assembled by the Welsh industrialist Richard Glynn Vivian.

Reni brings his classical figure style to the Bacchic subject, rendering the revelers with idealized anatomy and graceful poses derived from antique sculpture. The warm palette is somewhat richer than his typical devotional works, appropriate to the festive, sensuous subject matter.