A Bacchanalian Revel Before a Term

Poussin painted A Bacchanalian Revel Before a Term around 1632–33, one of his most joyous mythological compositions depicting the festive rites associated with Bacchus, whose stone term — a boundary marker featuring his head — presides over the scene. The painting shows Poussin's absorption of the Venetian tradition of the bacchanal: the composition derives ultimately from Titian's great festivals of the gods painted for Alfonso d'Este's camerino in Ferrara. Poussin's treatment, however, is more architecturally organized than Titian's, the figures arranged in a frieze-like grouping across the canvas in response to his study of ancient sarcophagus reliefs. The work is in the National Gallery, London, where it remains one of the finest examples of his early Roman mythologies.

The frieze-like arrangement of dancing figures across the canvas reflects Poussin's study of classical relief sculpture, with the warm golden light and rich earth tones creating a festive, celebratory atmosphere.