Drunken Silenus (Ribera)



Drunken Silenus is a painting by Jusepe de Ribera, produced in 1626 in Naples and now in the Museo di Capodimonte in Naples.

The central figure is Silenus, lying on a cloth and offering a wine cup to the figure behind him. To the right is Pan, crowning Silenus with vines and surrounded by a shell (the symbol announcing his death) and a turtle (symbol of laziness). At the bottom right is a snake symbolising wisdom.

History
Its first recorded owner was the Flemish merchant Gaspar Roomer, but he did not commission the work, since he first acquired it several years after the artist's death. At the end of the 18th century, it entered the collection of the House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies as part of their possessions in Naples, bringing it to the Capodimonte.