#raffaello sorbi

Bacchanal (1896). Raffaello Sorbi (Italian, 1844-1931). Oil on canvas.

Joyous skipping, exuberant dancing and cheerful models are ever present in Sorbi’s high spirted scenes of Easter processions and harvest dances. These were idealised interpretations of country life so sought after by the artist’s many admirers and collectors. Such high spirits are translated into a classical setting in the present lot. Ladies skip with tambourines and cymbals and making merry music whilst the bacchanalia ritual gets underway. A garlanded impish Bacchus takes his place a little further back, riding a donkey in the midst of the procession. The raised Thyrsus symbolise hedonism, prosperity and pleasure.