Dois Sátiros

Rubens painted these two satyrs in Antwerp around 1618, when his workshop was the busiest painting operation in northern Europe and orders arrived from courts across the continent. He cropped the scene tight, bringing the two half-goat men of ancient myth right up to the surface. One turns in profile to drink from a horn, the other stares straight out at us, a fistful of dark grapes in his hand, both flushed with wine. The bared teeth and gleaming eyes are meant as comedy and appetite, the wild fringe of the god of wine's followers. Rubens knew the ancient sculpture such faces came from well, having spent eight years in Italy copying it before he came home to Antwerp.