Baroque · 16th century
Hand-painted reproduction after
Caravaggio
Self-Portrait as Bacchus
These sizes keep the painting’s true proportions. Want a different shape? Email us and we’ll adapt it.
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- Photo before it ships
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What happens next
The painting
Self-Portrait as Bacchus
Yellowish skin, yellowed eyes and a grimace: the young god here is the painter himself, done with a mirror in his first years in Rome. His head tilts and his face turns three quarters, and the fruit looks worse for wear next to the fresher fruit of his slightly later pictures. A 2009 medical article read the colouring as a sign of malaria. In 1607 Cardinal Scipione Borghese seized it from the collection of Giuseppe Cesari, an early employer of Caravaggio.Caravaggio was in his early twenties and newly arrived in Rome when he painted himself as the wine god, around 1593. The skin is sallow and the lips grey, which is why the painting is usually called the Sick Bacchus. He holds a bunch of white grapes, with two peaches and black grapes laid on the stone ledge in front. Cardinal Scipione Borghese took it in 1607 from the studio of the painter Cavalier d'Arpino, and it has been in the Galleria Borghese ever since.Ours is painted by hand in oil once you order, in the size you choose, and you approve a photo of it before it ships.
About the original
- Painted in
- 1595
- Original size
- 67 × 53 cm (26.4 × 20.9 in)
- Where it hangs
- Galleria Borghese, Rome
Detail
Specification
| Medium | Oil on canvas |
| Painting size | |
| Framed size | |
| Frame | |
| Orientation | |
| Dominant colour | |
| Arrives | Rolled, ready for local framing |
| Packed | Rolled in a protective tube |
| Turnaround | 3 to 4 weeks, then delivery |
The hand behind it
Caravaggio
Caravaggio trained in Milan and arrived in Rome with nothing, painting fruit and boys with flowers for dealers until a cardinal took him up. The commission that changed everything was the Contarelli Chapel, finished around 1600. Nobody had lit a religious scene like that before. He worked without preparatory drawings, straight onto primed canvas, with models pulled off the street. Saints have dirty feet in his pictures. Clients occasionally refused delivery on those grounds. He was also violent. There are court records for assault, for throwing a plate of artichokes at a waiter, for carrying a sword without a licence. In 1606 he killed a man over what may have been a wager and fled Rome with a price on his head. The last four years were spent on the run through Naples, Malta and Sicily, painting fast and getting darker. He died in 1610 on the coast north of Rome, aged thirty-eight, trying to reach a pardon that had already been granted.
All paintings by this artistLooking after it
Care and hanging
Before you buy
Questions
How is the finish priced?
The price you see is the painting at the size you chose, in the finish you chose, and it updates as you change either. Rolled arrives in a protective tube, ready for local framing. Stretched arrives on wooden bars, ready to hang. Framed arrives in its frame, ready to hang. Stretched and framed go up to 60 × 90 cm (24 × 36 in); larger paintings travel rolled.
How long does it take?
Painting begins after you order and takes 3 to 4 weeks, including drying and the photo you approve. Delivery then takes 4 to 10 working days to most countries. More on delivery times.
Will it look exactly like the original?
It is painted by a person, so no. Brushwork varies between copies, which is the difference between a painting and a poster.
What if I do not like it?
Ninety days from delivery, full refund.
Can I get Self-Portrait as Bacchus in a different size or shape?
Yes. Self-Portrait as Bacchus is painted to the size you want, in the original’s proportions, or adapted to another shape on request. Stretched and framed go up to 60 x 90 cm (24 x 36 in). The original measures 67 x 53 cm (26.4 x 20.9 in).
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