The Infant Bacchus with the Nymphs of Nysa
manner of Andrea Schiavone (Zadar c.1500 - Venice 1563)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1530 - 1599
Materials
Oil on panel
Measurements
430 x 500 mm
Place of origin
Venice
Order this imageCollection
Belton House, Lincolnshire
NT 436089
Caption
This picture is probably painted after a lost original, painted by a Venetian artist, although we cannot be sure who that was. There are various similar variants, but in all of them, the subject-matter differs slightly, and we cannot be entirely sure what the subject is here. It seems as though it is not a birth scene: there is no bowl, nor mass of swaddling clothes. It seems possible that the scene shows Bacchus, Jupiter’s son by Semele, who was brought up in secrecy by the Nymphs of Nysa, to conceal him from the jealousy of Juno, Jupiter’s wife. The loose handling of the paint suggests that this artist might have been working after Andrea Schiavone, whose style this approximates.
Summary
Oil painting on panel, The Infant Bacchus with the Nymphs of Nysa, in the manner of Andrea Schiavone (Zadar c.1500 - Venice 1563). A nymph sits in the centre holding a baby with three other nymphs surrounding. A cherub hovers in top right hand corner, holding, possibly, myrtle. The scene possibly shows Bacchus, Jupiter’s son by Semele, who was brought up in secrecy by the nymphs on Mount Nysa, to conceal him from the jealousy of Juno, Jupiter’s wife. He was brought up by satyrs, the Maenads and Silenus
Provenance
Purchased with a grant from the National Heritage Memorial Fund (NHMF) from Edward John Peregrine Cust, 7th Baron Brownlow, C. St J. (b.1936) in 1984
Credit line
Belton House, The Brownlow Collection (acquired with the help of the National Heritage Memorial Fund by the National Trust in 1984)
Makers and roles
manner of Andrea Schiavone (Zadar c.1500 - Venice 1563), artist