Bacchus

myminifactory

At the age of 21 Michelangelo embarked on his first journey to Rome. Over the next five years, only two masterpieces were completed: the Bacchus and La Pieta. The statue of Bacchus was commissioned by the wealthy banker Jacopo Galli for his garden, with a precise request to emulate the ancient models. The figure of this intoxicated and stumbling god conveys both youthful energy and femininity. According to Vasari, Michelangelo's unique blending of these contrasting qualities is reminiscent of the Greek god Dionysus. However, in Michelangelo's artistic vision, such divine sensuality comes with a profound consequence for humanity: while holding a lionskin - the emblem of mortality - with indifference in his left hand and a bunch of grapes - a symbol of life - from which a faun feeds, we are suddenly struck by the significance this exquisite masterpiece holds for man: that of living briefly before being ensnared by death's grasp, much like the faun.