Backanal på Andros

The island of Andros was so favored by Bacchus that a stream flew with wine. Gods, men and children celebrate the effects of wine, whose consumption, in Philostratus´ words, makes men rich, dominant, generous to their friends, handsome and four cubits high. A nude nymph lies in the foreground, and Silenus in the background. The music on the score in the lower center of the composition has been attributed to Adriaen Willaert, a Flemish composer active in the Court of Ferrara. Its lyrics, Qui boyt et ne reboyt il ne seet que boyre soit (“He who drinks and doesn't drink again, doesn't know what drinking is”.) refer to the celebration of wine.