The Birth of Bacchus  1539

Giulio Romano and workshop [br] In a canvas filled with half-naked, twisting bodies, the story of Bacchus's birth unfolds in a typically wry Mannerist commentary on the perils of passion. On discovering that the chief god Jupiter had impregnated the young mortal Semele, his wife, Juno, hatched a plan to end the love affair. Disguised as Semele's nurse, and knowing that Ju...