Bacchanal with a Dancing Couple on the Right 

Willem Basse created this print, a "Bacchanal with a Dancing Couple on the Right," in the 17th century. It presents a scene brimming with figures associated with Bacchus, the god of wine and ecstasy. We see satyrs playing music, nymphs reclining, and couples dancing wildly, all symbols of unrestrained celebration. Consider the dancing figures crowned with ivy. This echoes ancient Roman festivals where followers of Bacchus, or Dionysus as he was known in Greece, donned ivy wreaths as a sign of devotion and altered consciousness. These bacchanals, or Dionysian rituals, were meant to transport participants to a state of divine frenzy. The imagery here is not unique but part of a continuous thread; similar scenes can be found on ancient Greek vases, Roman frescoes in Pompeii and Renaissance paintings. This echoes in us feelings of liberation and ecstatic communion, reflecting a deeper, collective memory of human desire for transcendence. It is a visual echo resonating across millennia.