Guess the Artwork

Bacco - Bacchus (c.1595), oil on canvas by Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571-1610), Uffizi Gallery, Florence.

Caravaggio painted this Bacchus shortly after he joined the household of his first important patron, Cardinal Del Monte, and reflects the humanist interests of the Cardinal's educated circle. It was not in the cardinal's collection at his death, and may have been a gift to the Grand Duke in Florence. It was unknown until 1913. When it was found in a storeroom of the Uffizi Galleries, it had never been catalogued or framed.

In the composition, Bacchus' offering of the wine with his left hand has led to speculation that Caravaggio used a mirror to assist himself while working from life, doing away with the need for drawing. His early biographer, the artist Giovanni Baglione, had suggested the artist used this method in some early paintings.