A newly discovered work by Lucas Cranach will be auctioned off today at Christie’s in New York. It’s entitled “Bacchus at the Wine Vat.” Here is the description:
A gloriously eccentric work by Cranach (1472-1553), “Bacchus at the Wine Vat,” 1530 (pictured at left; estimate: $2.5-3.5 million), re-imagines the typically youthful wine god Bacchus as a balding old man with tankard in hand amidst a rollicking group of putti grouped around a vat of wine. Enabled by an old crone who serves them, the cherubs engage in messy antics that wryly warn the viewer of the perils of excess drink—fighting, falling down, vomiting, and even passing out. Interestingly, the work is believed to be one of the earliest references in painting to the process of wine-making. Given the German origins of the work and the surrounding landscape depicted within it, the white wine inside the vat may specifically reference German Riesling wine, a varietal first recorded in royal ledgers in 1435.
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In