The Canon in Titian's Bacchanal

The Bacchanal is one of the three paintings made by Titian for a room in the palace of Alfonso d'Este at Ferrara. At Alfonso's suggestion the painting followed a description by Philostratus of a painting he had seen which represented the mythical island of Andros. According to Philostratus, Dionysius so charged the earth of Andros with wine ‘that it bursts forth and sends up a river… . the men, crowned with ivy and byrony are singing to their wives and children, some dancing … some reclining. And very likely … this is the theme of their song— … that this river makes men rich, and powerful in the assembly, and helpful to their friends, and beautiful and, instead of short, four cubits tall; for when a man has drunk his fill of it he can assemble all these qualities and in his thought make them his own. This is what you should imagine you hear and what some of them are really singing, though their voices are thick with wine.’