Art
An old self-indulgent sot lets it all hang out in The Drunken Silenus Supported By Satyrs, painted in the Antwerp studio of Peter Paul Rubens in about 1620. An abundance of naked, fatty flesh proves his unabashed passion for food, drink and pleasure as he reaches for some grapes and lets his great mass fall back into the arms of his friends. He is Silenus, the companion and tutor of the wine god Bacchus in ancient myth. The exuberant, buttery richness of this painting, perhaps designed by Rubens and painted by his student Anthony van Dyck, has a north-European festive atmosphere that makes the viewer think of Shakespeare’s Falstaff or a boozy Father Christmas. Come and join the wild parade. Jonathan Jones
