Publication: a cura di Alessandra Baroni Vannucci, Musica dipinta - dipinti e disegni dal XV al XIX secolo, Enrico Frascione 2018, p. 36.
A suggestive trace for the attribution of this painting to Karl Pavlovic Brjullov is the evident similarity, physiognomic but also stylistic, between the baccante with the tympanums at the center of the scene and two female figures present in the works of the thirties of the Russian painter: "Portrait of the Princess Ekaterina Pavlovna Bagration", whose face has the same symmetry based on the eyebrows that converge on the nose stretched towards the mouth gracefully posed; and "Portrait of the painter in boat with the baroness Yekaterina Meller-Zakomelsky" where the noblewoman turns to the spectator with dreamy gaze highlighting the same somatic characteristics of the previous one and of our mythological creature.
A comparison that induces to place this painting in a temporal span that includes, in part, the Italian stay of Brjullov begun in 1823 and concluded in 1835: a period of fundamental formative experiences that sees the painter travelling between Venice, Bologna and Florence where he has all the ease to study the masters from which he will draw stylistic and compositive ideas especially for his paintings of historical genre. The Baccanale, beyond the mentioned similarities, can find further evidence in the interest for the "bacchici" subjects demostrated by the artist in some drawings datable by the 1930s; while the formal politeness that accompanies the chromatic composition with warm and soft tones lead to suppos the understanding, by the painter, of the Venetian and Bolognese masters matured in the remembered travels and started, in Rome, with Raffaello's study. Also for this Baccanale, remained in Italian territory, one could hypothesize a commissione from the demidov prince that we know attracted by "bacchici" themes. A brilliant intuition of Francesco Taddei has identified in the satyr "linguaggiuto" and "irridente" behind the baccante the self-portrait of the artist that is evident from the comparison with that conserved in the Gallery Tret'jakov of Moscow, sulphur and already predisposed to further disguises as demonstrated by our painting to be considered an escape in the Mediterranean myth pursued by Brjullov in the years of his passionate Italian experience.