Silenus Accompanied by a Satyr and a Faun (1630): Art, History and Details

Silenus Accompanied by a Satyr and a Faun (1630) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Christoffel Jegher (Flemish, 1596–1652/53); Peter Paul Rubens (Flemish, 1577–1640).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Flemish painter Peter Paul Rubens made several images of Bacchus and his teacher, Silenus. Silenus’s incessant overindulgence in wine presented comic possibilities, as seen here, where he walks naked in a stupor with the support of two others. Some artists, including Rubens, were attracted to Silenus for his embodiment of the intuitive and sensual parts of human nature, qualities essential to creativity. Art historians have argued that Rubens’s images of Silenus are indirect self-portraits expressing the artist’s search for creative inspiration and spiritual insight while inhabiting a highly corruptible human body.

Object facts

• Title: Silenus Accompanied by a Satyr and a Faun
• Date: 1630
• Creator attribution: Christoffel Jegher (Flemish, 1596–1652/53); Peter Paul Rubens (Flemish, 1577–1640)
• Culture: Flanders
• Type: Print
• Technique: woodcut
• Dimensions: Sheet: 44.6 x 33.9 cm (17 9/16 x 13 3/8 in.)
• Collection: PR - Woodcut
• Department: Prints
• Accession number: 1925.150

Collection credit

Dudley P. Allen Fund

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.