A Bacchanalian Revel Before a Term

Painting by Nicolas Poussin

A Bacchanalian Revel Before a Term^[a] is an oil painting by Nicolas Poussin, dated to 1632–1633, which is now in the National Gallery in London.^[1]

Description

The principal group consists of two nymphs^[b] and two fauns (emblem of the four seasons), dancing joyously in a ring. While thus performing their rounds, one of the former is squeezing the juice of grapes from her hand on two bacchanalian boys, who are struggling together to catch it; a third, overcome with its potent effects, lies asleep near them. In the opposite side is a term^[c] adorned with flowers, in front of which is a satyr endeavouring to embrace a nymph who in her struggles has fallen. One of her companions has seized the sylvan by the horn, and is about to inflict a blow on him with an empty golden vase, but is prevented by the prostrate female, and also by one of the dancers. A thick grove bounds the view on this side and on the other is a rocky landscape represented under the aspect of a fine evening.^[2]

Engraved by Huart, De Paray, and S. S. Smith.^[3]

Smith (1837) comments, "This chef d'œuvre of art is a highly classic and poetical exposition of the mystic rites of the sylvan deity".^[4] On the other hand, Wright (1985) considers this picture "One of Poussin's few attempts at the genuinely humorous."^[5]

Provenance

Collection of M. Randon de Boisset, 1777.
Count de Vaudreuil, 1786.
M. de Calonne, London, 1795.
Richard Walker, Esq., 1803.
Lord Kinnaird, 1813; purchased prior to the sale, by Thomas Hamlet, Esq., who, in 1826, sold it, together with the Bacchus and Ariadne, by Titian; and Christ appearing with his Cross to St. Peter, by Caracci, to the Directors of the National Gallery.^[3]

Notes

^ Also catalogued as A Bacchanalian Dance and Revel in Honour of Pan (Smith, 1837), Bacchanal before a Herm (Blunt, 1966), Bacchanal before a Term of Pan (Wright, 1985), and otherwise.
^ Or perhaps maenads, the revelrous followers of Bacchus.^[1]
^ Traditionally identified as a statue of Pan, but could also represent Priapus.^[1] Sometimes called a Herm.

References

^ ^a ^b ^c "A Bacchanalian Revel before a Term (NG62)". National Gallery.
^ Smith 1837, viii, 116–117.
^ ^a ^b Smith 1837, viii, 117.
^ Smith 1837, viii, 116.
^ Wright 1985, 176.

Bibliography

Blunt, Anthony (1966). The Paintings of Nicolas Poussin. Critical Catalogue. London: Phaidon. pp. 101–102 (no. 141).
Smith, John (1837). A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch, Flemish and French Painters: Nicholas Poussin, Claude Lorraine, and Jean Baptist Greuze. Vol. 8. London: Smith and Son. pp. 116–117 (no. 221). This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
Wright, Christopher (1985). Poussin. Paintings. A Catalogue Raisonné. England: Harlequin Books. p. 176 (no. 79).
Wright, Christopher (2007). Poussin. Paintings. A Catalogue Raisonné. London: Chaucer Press. pp. 117–118 (no. 79).