Engraving "the Joy Of Silenus". Around 1791. Engraver R. Delaunay. Author N. Bertin. Late 18th Century

Late 18th century engraving "The cheerfulness of Silene" after the work of Robert Delaunay (engraver and publisher) and Nicolas Bertin (author). This engraving, the etching model of which is known, preserved in the collections of the Museum of Art and History of the City of Geneva (MAH), dates back to the years 1790-1795. Charming scene from a mythology such as we loved to revisit in the last days of the old regime. It represents Silenus, the satyr and adoptive father of the god Dionysus. Integrated into the Dionysian procession, he personifies intoxication. According to the different traditions present in the koiné (variety of dialects of the ancient Greek world), Silenus was born in Asia. In a luxuriant nature worthy of Olympus, he is represented almost naked and surrounded by two members of his procession. At his feet, an urn, vine leaves and fruits symbolize intoxication and voluptuousness. In the 5th century BC, it was Herodotus, the "Father of History" (The Inquiry) but also Nonnos of Panopolis (The Dionysiacs) who most involved this divinity in their story to tell the epic of the Greeks. For the "little story", Alcibiades, the famous Athenian strategist of the 5th century, compared Socrates to a Silenus because his ugliness was so repulsive... (Plato, The Symposium, 215B). Engraving in its gilded wooden frame. (contemporary setting).