Dosso Dossi - A Bacchanal [c.1515-20]

Dosso Dossi - A Bacchanal [c.1515-20], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

The subject may be taken from Ovid's Fasti and represent an episode during the Feast of Cybele. However, this is not certain and other bacchanalian subjects are possible.The painting is in very poor condition and the quality is hard to assess. It has sometimes been mistaken for the picture which Dosso Dossi is known to have made for the Camerino d'Alabastro in the Castello at Ferrara.

Giovanni di Luteri, known as Dosso Dossi (from his birthplace) was, with his brother Battista, the leading painter in Ferrara in the early 16th century. From 1514 he worked chiefly for the Ferrara court, ruled by Duke Alfonso and then by Duke Ercole d'Este, painting mythological and modern poetic subjects, as well as portraits, decorative frescoes and religious themes. 

[Oil on canvas, 140.9 x 168.2 cm]