Small Bacchanal, Gerard de Lairesse, 1685
etching, h 346mm × w 583mm More details
De Lairesse here seems primarily interested in cautioning the viewer against the unpleasant consequences of abusing alcohol. Part of the company is roaring drunk. In the middle a woman, mouth open, sleeps off her hangover. Freely translated, the Latin text reads: ‘Night, love, and wine counsel no halfhearted measures. The first knoweth not shame, Bacchus and love know not fear.’
