A Faun Grasping a Bunch of Grapes

1617

From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art

Dominant colour

A Faun Grasping a Bunch of Grapes is a 1617 by Peter Paul Rubens, a Baroque work, depicting Satyr, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.

Who painted this?: Peter Paul Rubens
When & what style?: 1617 · Baroque
Where can I see it?: Cleveland Museum of Art

About this work

You see a hairy, grinning creature with goat legs squeezing grapes over an open mouth. This sketch was probably made by one of Rubens’ students, copying a lost painting. Rubens later added shadows with ink wash—a thin, watery ink—to show how light and dark play across the body. It’s like a lesson in making a flat drawing feel alive. To see how Rubens used light and shadow in finished works, look up *chiaroscuro*.

The story of this work

Overview

This drawing relates to a finished painting (now lost) by Peter Paul Rubens that depicted a faun (a woodland creature similar to a satyr) squeezing grapes into the mouth of a young Bacchus. That figure, shown here, could be Silenus, who educated Bacchus on the pleasures of wine, revelry, and nature. Rubens ran a large studio and employed numerous apprentices, one of whom may have made this copy after the original painting. As a form of instruction, Rubens added ink wash to the drawing to enhance the shading on the figure and shadows behind it.

Did you know?

Swirling draperies like the one haphazardly worn by this faun do more than conceal, in many cases they reveal an artist's technical skill. To render folds and gathers in fabric, artists used chiaroscuro , meaning contrasting light and dark tones.

Read the full account in the museum source.