1567
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
Dominant colour
Head of Silenus is a 1567 by Adamo Scultori, a Renaissance work, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.
You see a wrinkled old man with a wreath of ivy, his tongue sticking out and eyes half-closed. This is Silenus, the tipsy tutor of the wine god Bacchus. The artist carved every line to look like chiseled stone, even though it’s just ink on paper. The deep shadows make the face pop, as if lit by flickering torchlight. Look up *chiaroscuro* to see how other artists used light and dark this way.
This engraving by the Mantuan artist Adamo Scultori is based on an untraced design for stuccowork designed by Giulio Romano at the duke of Mantua’s Palazzo del Te. Silenus was the mythological teacher of Bacchus. Known for his great wisdom, which was enhanced by wine, he was often portrayed as the embodiment of overindulgence and revelry. Adamo emphasized these qualities in Silenus’s slightly inebriated expression and extended tongue. The dark contrasts and heavily worked, hatched areas of the engraving create deep shadows that relay the character of relief carving, like stucco.
This engraving’s circular cut plate imitates circular decorative elements featuring grotesque heads, such as those found on doorframes and other architectural borders in Renaissance architecture.
Read the full account in the museum source.
Adamo Scultori (c.1530 – 1585), also referred to as Adamo Ghisi, was an Italian engraver, sculptor and artist.
See the richer artist page
