Man Seated Beneath a Statue of Bacchus, Receiving an Audience 1525 - 1566

Battista Franco etched this scene of an audience before a lord, sometime in the mid-16th century. Above the seated figure, we see a statue of Bacchus. The god of wine, theatre, and ecstasy – a symbol of altered states and liberation. Consider Bacchus's ever-changing image, from ancient Greece to the Renaissance. Initially a symbol of ecstatic freedom, the god has been transformed into a legitimizing figure for those in power. We recognize in this image the potent psychological dance between ruler and ruled. The supplicants display gestures of reverence, embodying a deep-seated, almost primal need for authority. This dynamic is mirrored in countless images across time, from the pharaohs of Egypt to modern-day leaders. The emotional undercurrent is palpable. The tension, the deference, and the subtle power plays resonate deeply, engaging our collective memories. This tableau of power and submission, immortalized in ink, speaks to the cyclical nature of human experience. Franco's work reminds us that the symbols of the past are never truly gone. They resurface, evolve, and take on new meanings in the theater of history.