Bacchus nursed by the Nymphs of Nyssa

Artist William Dyce (Aberdeen, Scotland, 1806 - 1864)

Datec. 1827

Mediumoil on board

ClassificationsPaintings And Drawings

DimensionsOverall: Height: 30.8 cm, Width: 40.5 cm
Frame: Height: 57.6 cm, Width: 67.5 cm

AcquisitionBequeathed in 1940 by Miss Ella C Dyce.

CopyrightOut of copyright - CC0

LocationView by Appointment - Aberdeen Treasure Hub

Object numberABDAG003201

Keywords

About Me'Bacchus Nursed by the Nymphs of Nyssa' is a fairly resolved oil sketch for a final painting of the same title (whereabouts unknown), exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1827. Dyce had first visited Rome in 1825, returning in 1826, and during this time his tendencies were toward classical art and his idols were Titian and Poussin, whose works he studied.

This oil depicts a dynamic, bucolic revel, much in the style of the great Bacchanals of Titian.

The myth centres on the god Bacchus, the son of Jupiter and the mortal, Semele, who was reared by the nymphs of Nyssa. In the central group Silenus, a satyr-god, squeezes grape juice into a cup, whilst Bacchus, kneeling on a young goat and tended by one of the nymphs, raises his arm to reach for the drinking vessel.

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Bacchus, the son of Jupiter and a mortal, is shown here as a baby trying to grab the cup from a satyr, perhaps practising for his later role as Roman god of wine.