Bacchus astride a wine barrel
ca 1890–1910
Medium
Type-metal engraving
Dimensions
Sheet: 5 1/16 × 3 3/8 in. (12.8 × 8.5 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1946
Accession Number
46.46.419
Tags
Art Historical Context
Created around 1890–1910, *Bacchus astride a wine barrel* is a lively type-metal engraving by Mexican artists José Guadalupe Posada Manuel Manilla. The print (just over five inches tall) shows the Roman god of wine perched cheerfully atop a barrel, surrounded by drinking glasses—an irreverent twist on classical mythology rendered in the bold, graphic style typical of Mexican popular prints. Posada, who trained under Manilla, became famous for using this accessible medium to reach wide audiences with images that blended European traditions and local humor. Type-metal engraving allowed artists ...
About the Artist
José Guadalupe Posada|Manuel Manilla · 1852–1913
José Guadalupe Posada (1852-1913) was a Mexican printmaker and engraver who revolutionized popular art and created some of the most iconic images in Mexican culture. Working primarily with publisher Antonio Vanegas Arroyo, he produced over 20,000 images during his career—inexpensive broadsheets sold for a penny on colored paper that made his art accessible to even the poorest workers. He transform...