Cleveland Museum of Art

Triumph of Bacchus

Georg Pencz

Date

c. 1539

Medium

engraving

Culture

Germany

Department

Prints

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

A triumph was a civic ceremony and procession from antiquity, when military commanders were celebrated upon their return to Rome with the spoils of war. The grandeur and magnificence of such events, revived during the Renaissance, makes the diminutive size of these whimsical images of Bacchus’s triumphs even more amusing. The orderly parade depicted by Georg Pencz contrasts with the chaotic scene taking place in Johann Theodor de Bry’s engraving. Such small prints were meant to be enjoyed up close, perhaps with a magnifying glass, a socially acceptable examination of humorous or erotic content performed by a cast of scantily clad mythological characters. Georg Pencz is among a group of engravers known today as the "Little Masters" for the many small prints they created, such as this one, which often required the use of a magnifying glass.

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