DOI issue:
Nr. 4
DOI article:Murdzeńska, Maria: A mythological picture by Jacob Adriaensz Backer
DOI Page / Citation link: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.18818#0114
2. Hendrick Goltzius after Polidoro Caldara,
Bacclius, engraving, Leiden, Printroom (phot.
Netherl. Art Inst.)
her garments, leaying a piece o£ jewellery — a diadem or a crown perhaps. Bacchus identified
as the god of winę by the wreaths of vine leaves on his head and around the hips represents rather
thickset proportions of a plump, childly body different from that of PoelenburglTs hero.
The proportions of the human body may be the expression of the epoch’s style,15 but like an
attribute may define the character of the person.16 There are known two images of Bacchus
which were madę by Hendrick Goltzius and which differ emphatically both in the proportions
and the type of the nudę. On the engraving (fig. 2) madę after the fresco by Polidoro Caldara
called da Caravaggio, Bacchus, according to the Italian original was characterised as an Olym-
pian, having slender, Apolline proportions.17 In the woodcut (fig. 3) Bacchus is represented
with the constellation of Scorpio — the sign of the zodiac referring to the Autumn — as a dumpy
and plump figurę.18 The intermediate type, plump but less dumpy is represented by Bacchus
15. See E. Panofsky, ”The History of the Theory of Human Proportions as a Reflection of the History of Styles” [in:] Meaning
in the Visual Arts, New York, 1955, p. 55 — 107.
16. On a type of a nudę represented by Apollo and Bacchus see G. P. Lomazzo, Trattato delVarte della Pittura, Scultura ed
Architettura, ed. Roma, 1844, II p. 78 — 79.
17. F. W. H. Hollstein, Dutch and Flemish Etchings, Engravings and Woodcuts, Amsterdam, VIII, 302 II, p. 101.
18. F. W. H. Hollstein, op. cit., VIII, 364 II-3, p. 118.
100
O. B- HEIDELBERG
Bacclius, engraving, Leiden, Printroom (phot.
Netherl. Art Inst.)
her garments, leaying a piece o£ jewellery — a diadem or a crown perhaps. Bacchus identified
as the god of winę by the wreaths of vine leaves on his head and around the hips represents rather
thickset proportions of a plump, childly body different from that of PoelenburglTs hero.
The proportions of the human body may be the expression of the epoch’s style,15 but like an
attribute may define the character of the person.16 There are known two images of Bacchus
which were madę by Hendrick Goltzius and which differ emphatically both in the proportions
and the type of the nudę. On the engraving (fig. 2) madę after the fresco by Polidoro Caldara
called da Caravaggio, Bacchus, according to the Italian original was characterised as an Olym-
pian, having slender, Apolline proportions.17 In the woodcut (fig. 3) Bacchus is represented
with the constellation of Scorpio — the sign of the zodiac referring to the Autumn — as a dumpy
and plump figurę.18 The intermediate type, plump but less dumpy is represented by Bacchus
15. See E. Panofsky, ”The History of the Theory of Human Proportions as a Reflection of the History of Styles” [in:] Meaning
in the Visual Arts, New York, 1955, p. 55 — 107.
16. On a type of a nudę represented by Apollo and Bacchus see G. P. Lomazzo, Trattato delVarte della Pittura, Scultura ed
Architettura, ed. Roma, 1844, II p. 78 — 79.
17. F. W. H. Hollstein, Dutch and Flemish Etchings, Engravings and Woodcuts, Amsterdam, VIII, 302 II, p. 101.
18. F. W. H. Hollstein, op. cit., VIII, 364 II-3, p. 118.
100
O. B- HEIDELBERG