Misfortunes of Silenus by Piero di Cosimo

Misfortunes of Silenus by Piero di Cosimo, dated around 1500 and now at Harvard Art Museums, depicts the drunken satyr Silenus — tutor and companion of Dionysus — in some episode of his characteristic mishaps. Silenus was typically shown as a fat, wine-sodden old man riding a donkey or being carried by satyrs, eternally intoxicated and stumbling. Piero di Cosimo's mythological paintings drew extensively on Ovid's Metamorphoses and classical texts about primitive existence, exploring the world of satyrs, nymphs, and the boundary between human and animal with his characteristic mixture of erudition and playful invention. Harvard Art Museums hold significant Renaissance works through the Fogg Museum's collection.

Oil on panel with Piero di Cosimo's imaginative treatment of mythological subjects — Silenus rendered with both physical comedy and observational precision, the surrounding satyrs depicted as genuine half-human hybrid creatures rather than merely costumed men. His animal figures in mythological scenes display the same zoological curiosity evident in his hunting scenes.