Sick Bacchus (Self-Portrait as Bacchus)
by Caravaggio, 1593
Artwork Details
Details
- Year
- 1593
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Size
- 67 cm × 53 cm (26 × 21 in)
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Sick Bacchus is one of Caravaggio's earliest known works, painted this around 1593. The god of wine appears jaundiced and unwell, lips tinged with gray. Caravaggio used himself as the model, supposedly painting his reflection during recovery from an illness or injury.
The painting's title comes from the sickly appearance. Bacchus holds grapes and wears a vine crown, but his complexion suggests disease rather than divine vitality. Some scholars read the painting as an ironic self-portrait: the young artist mocking his own excess or commenting on the dangers of his bohemian lifestyle. It hangs in the Borghese Gallery.
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About Sick Bacchus (Self-Portrait as Bacchus)
The greenish skin tone may reflect Caravaggio's actual illness when he painted it. He used a mirror to paint himself. Some scholars suggest it comments ironically on the god of wine looking hungover.
Yes, Caravaggio painted himself as Bacchus, using a mirror. The slightly off-kilter gaze typical of mirror self-portraits supports this attribution.
Bacchus (Greek: Dionysus) was the god of wine. Grapes and ivy are his traditional attributes. But here the divine figure looks all too human and unwell.
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