The principal group consists of two nymphs[b] and two fauns (emblem of the four seasons), dancing joyously in a ring. While thus performing their rounds, one of the former is squeezing the juice of grapes from her hand on two bacchanalian boys, who are struggling together to catch it; a third, overcome with its potent effects, lies asleep near them. In the opposite side is a term[c] adorned with flowers, in front of which is a satyr endeavouring to embrace a nymph who in her struggles has fallen. One of her companions has seized the sylvan by the horn, and is about to inflict a blow on him with an empty golden vase, but is prevented by the prostrate female, and also by one of the dancers. A thick grove bounds the view on this side and on the other is a rocky landscape represented under the aspect of a fine evening.[2]
Smith (1837) comments, "This chef d'œuvre of art is a highly classic and poetical exposition of the mystic rites of the sylvan deity".[3] On the other hand, Wright (1985) considers this picture "One of Poussin's few attempts at the genuinely humorous."[4]
^Also catalogued as A Bacchanalian Dance and Revel in Honour of Pan (Smith, 1837), Bacchanal before a Herm (Blunt, 1966), Bacchanal before a Term of Pan (Wright, 1985), and otherwise.
