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Drunken Silenus (the "Tazza Farnese")

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Follow the wreath of vines around the edge like the rim of a dish, then find the two children holding up bunches of grapes.

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Annibale engraved this scene on a slightly curved silver dish for Cardinal Farnese, and writers of his day admired the plate as both a work of art and a vessel for wine. Two satyrs pour wine from a skin into the mouth of the drunken Silenus, under a ring of grapevines. The image probably came from a Roman gem in Farnese’s collection, and the dish is now in the Capodimonte museum in Naples.

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Engraving on ivory laid paper · Image in: Diam.: 32 cm · Art Institute of Chicago · Baroque

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Details and source

Museum title
Drunken Silenus (the "Tazza Farnese")
Artist
Annibale Carracci Italian, 1560-1609
Date
c. 1597
Medium
Engraving on ivory laid paper
Dimensions
Image in: Diam.: 32 cm (12 5/8 in.); Sheet: 42.7 × 32 cm (16 13/16 × 12 5/8 in.)
Credit line
The Regenstein Collection
Image license
CC0 1.0 · Public domain
Museum record
Art Institute of Chicago

Artist’s life 1560–1609

Baroque c. 1600–1750

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Galler’s rooms and hanging scale are imagined. The image is the museum’s original digital reproduction.

Drunken Silenus (the "Tazza Farnese") · Annibale Carracci, c. 1597
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Drunken Silenus (the "Tazza Farnese"), Annibale Carracci

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