Los Borrachos

The original, 165 x 225 cm, is in the Prado in Madrid. Los Borrachos (The Drunkards), also entitled the Feast of Bacchus, was the first painting by Velázquez of a mythological subject. He executed it in order to demonstrate his ability as a history painter to King Philip IV who had recently appointed him court painter. Originally the painting adorned the bedroom of the king in the Alcazar palace, which indicates the King's high esteem for the picture with its unusual subject matter. Depicted is a nude Bacchus offering wine to peasants surrounding him, while he is crowning one of them with vine. Bacchus had a special meaning for scholars in seventeeth century Spain, because a literary tradition claimed the God of Wine had ruled in ancient times over the Iberian peninsula. In this way the painting depicts a mythical forebear of the Spanish King.

See colour illustration