Five Putti Playing with a Goat (Bacchanalia) 1685 - 1695

This red chalk drawing by Carlo Cignani captures a playful scene of five putti, or cherubic children, frolicking with a goat. Immediately, we recognize the goat as a symbol deeply entwined with Bacchus, the god of wine, fertility, and ecstatic liberation. The motif of putti and goats has an ancient pedigree, echoing bacchanalian revelries found in Roman art, and it speaks to themes of abundance and unbridled joy. Notice how the cherubs’ interaction with the goat mirrors similar motifs of nymphs and satyrs found in earlier classical works, where the boundary between human, animal, and divine blurs in a celebration of life’s energies. The motif has morphed through time. In some contexts, the goat is a symbol of lust and chaos, yet here it's softened, domesticated, and rendered harmless within the cherubic game. This image powerfully engages our primal recognition of these archetypes, evoking a sense of nostalgia for a lost paradise where nature and innocence intertwine.