Terugkeer van Vulcanus met Bacchus 1616 - 1657

This engraving by Pieter Serwouters depicts Vulcan’s return with Bacchus. The image bursts with symbols of power and inebriation. Bacchus, God of Wine, is shown riding an ass, an animal linked to festivity and lower instincts. He is accompanied by Vulcan in a chariot, holding a staff, suggesting a return to order. Consider the ass: In antiquity, it was associated with Dionysus, the Greek counterpart to Bacchus, in wild revelries. This motif appears in Roman mosaics and Renaissance paintings, each time embodying a mixture of joy and disorder. Think of Apuleius's "The Golden Ass," where transformation and the base instincts of man intertwine. The ass, therefore, becomes more than an animal; it is a vessel for primal human drives, resonating in our collective consciousness through time. This image, like a dream, presents the cyclical nature of human experience, where the past continually shapes the present. The motifs resurface, evolve, and take on new meanings.