Caesar van Everdingen - Bacchus and Ariadne [1660]

Caesar van Everdingen - Bacchus and Ariadne [1660], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Caesar van Everdingen (c.1616 - 1678) depicts Bacchus in this painting as a beardless, naked, sensuous youth, who is ‘womanly or man-womanish’ as he is described in some legends, though his earliest images show him as a normal, clothed, mature man with a beard. Bacchus is usually accompanied by ‘wild’ female companions like nymphs (maenads) and ithyphallic, bearded satyrs, and some such nymphs, satyrs and a putto is depicted in this picture along with wine and other symbolism of reveling. Often he is attended by a bearded, drunken old man named Silenus, his teacher and foster father, who is either absent or shown as the satyr in the background.