Three satyrs carrying the drunken Silenus, preceded by a putto carrying grapes; behind them a satyr carrying a large vessel, a putto, and a bare-breasted woman 1645 - 1693

This etching by Jonas Umbach, made in the 17th century, depicts a scene of drunken revelry led by satyrs and putti, mythical figures associated with the Roman god Bacchus. Umbach was working in Germany in the decades after the Thirty Years War, a period of social upheaval and religious conflict, so the Bacchanal subject matter provides an escape from the concerns of the time. Umbach's work gives us a glimpse into the era's complex relationship with classical mythology, filtered through a Christian lens. Here, Bacchus's companion, Silenus, is being carried, drunk, by the Satyrs. Typically, the Satyrs and putti are male, however, Umbach includes a bare-breasted woman in the procession. The inclusion of the bare-breasted woman raises questions about the role of women in these scenes of ecstasy. Are they simply objects of desire or participants in the revelry? The image oscillates between celebrating the pleasures of the body and reminding us of the dangers of excess. It asks us to consider the boundaries between freedom and chaos, control and abandon, and how these binaries play out in our own lives.