The work is a clear quotation and reprise of the statue depicting the "Bacchus" of the genius artist Michelangelo Buonarroti, made towards the end of the 90s of the fifteenth century. The work, one of the very few by Michelangelo with a profane subject, was commissioned by Cardinal Raffaele Riario during Michelangelo's first stay in Rome. The statue evokes the pagan myth of Bacchus, represented here as a "drunken young god", who staggers holding a cup while behind him a small satyr, seated on a log, slyly takes advantage of his intoxication to taste the grapes he holds with the left. The detail of the satyr, which has a static function and invites the viewer to widen the front view towards the side, was widely praised by all the sculptors of the time, as the young man really seems to eat grapes with great realism. The Bacchus is rendered in a naturalistic way, like a child walking with uncertainty due to intoxication, with a fluid modeling that highlights the attributes of a bitter sensual virility.
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