Minneapolis Institute of Art

Bacchanal in a Classical Landscape

Louis Albert Guislain Bacler d'Albe

Date

1803

Medium

Gouache and graphite

Department

European Art

Institution

Minneapolis Institute of Art

Known as Napoleon’s cartographer, Bacler d’Albe was a prolific printmaker and painter. He oversaw Napoleon’s topographical office, making the maps that informed France’s successful military campaigns. The artist was reportedly the last person Napoleon saw every night, staying in the general’s tent to share new topographical plans before the next day’s battle. Throughout his busy military service, Bacler d’Albe continued to exhibit art at the Paris Salons. In this picturesque landscape, he inserted some classical vignettes: the god Silenus atop his donkey leading a merry procession, revelers carousing around a distant temple, and naked nymphs and satyrs, dancing with abandon. The miniature scale of his figures highlights the immensity and awe-inspiring beauty of the surrounding landscape. Europe

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