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Affiliation(s)

University of Massachusetts Lowell, Lowell, MA., USA

ABSTRACT

This article delves into the significance of Guido Reni’s Infant Bacchus, created during the Italian Baroque period. By examining historical and iconographic elements, the study aims to interpret the symbolism depicted in the painting. The historical aspects include the birth of Dionysus or Bacchus in classical and Italian Renaissance imagery and literary and visual sources that influenced Reni’s solo painting. The iconographic components encompass the infant’s nude body, the child’s bodily functions, and the attributes associated with Bacchus, the God of Agriculture, Revelry, and Wine, such as the grapevines, grapes, ivy, glass flask, kantharos (wine cup), and wine barrel. The emblematic and cosmological associations of Bacchus’s divinity are considered as well.

KEYWORDS

Infant Bacchus, Greek-Roman mythology, emblems, optics, reflections, planetary symbolism, Giovanni Belli, Andrea Alciato, Vincenzo Cartari, Cesare Ripa, and Guido Reni

Cite this paper

Journal of Literature and Art Studies, January 2024, Vol. 14, No. 1, 1-39

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