Jacob Jordaens, Bacchus, 1650

by Atelier Liesjes

Against a dark brown, almost black background, a man looks straight at the viewer. He is smiling, revealing his teeth, and his cheeks are bright red. Around his head he wears a wreath of vine leaves and bunches of grapes, which almost blends into the darkness. His dark, curly hair falls to his shoulders. His bare chest is painted in broad strokes of cream and ivory, with warm pink shadows beneath his neck and around his nipple. A heavy red cloak hangs over his left shoulder, falling down the edge of the canvas like a broad splash of colour. The light comes from the left and casts a sheen on the forehead, nose and collarbone, whilst the right side of the body remains in shadow. The craquelure in the paint is visible across the entire chest. The man is Bacchus, god of wine, but Jordaens does not paint a lofty deity: he depicts a plump, boisterous drinker with a double chin and a gaze that invites rather than impresses. This is characteristic of his Baroque approach, in which the mythological subject is reduced to an everyday, almost comical figure. The warm colours, the strong chiaroscuro and the loose, broad brushstrokes lend the canvas a festive, earthy atmosphere. It is more of a ‘tronie’ than a portrait: a character head that embodies the sensuality of wine. Jacob Jordaens (Antwerp 1593 – Antwerp 1678) was, alongside Rubens and Van Dyck, the third great painter of the Antwerp Baroque. He learnt his craft from Adam van Noort, married his daughter and worked in Antwerp throughout his life. His body of work comprises history paintings, genre scenes and portraits, characterised by robust, exuberant figures and a warm colour palette. Following Rubens’s death in 1640, he became the city’s leading artist for major decorative commissions. A powerful, exuberant work suited to a classical interior.