god of wine

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio [1571-1610], The Young Bacchus, 1596

"The young god is peering at us from over his glass of wine. Wine is the symbol of his power, and its surface ripples with movement as he offers it in his outstretched hand...He is no traditional god. From his drunken red cheeks, dark hands and dirty fingernails, to the sensual intent of the eyes and lips, he is a very worldly god, human even. [The model is taken to be a male prostitute.] The incredibly frank earthiness is one of Caravaggio's greatest innovations and achievements." 

- Roy Bolton

An earlier reference to wine here.

inventory

David Teniers the Younger [1610-1690], Archduke Leopold Wilhelm in His Picture Gallery, 1653.

"Teniers was the Flemish court painter, as Rubens had been previously, building up his collection with paintings bought from the dismembered collection of the executed Charles I of England. In this painting there are recognizable pictures by Titian, Reni, Bellini, Giorgione, Tintoretto, Veronese, Rubens, and others. It is a window into the new world of collecting that was developing. Royalty were competing all over Europe to outdo each other with the Old Masters they could buy."

- Roy Bolton

A Man Drinking

Annibale Carracci [1560-1609], c. 1581-84 

"Acting the part of the aristocratic courtier painter was what Carracci hated, and it was this lifestyle that led to his mental breakdown." Roy Bolton

spiritual guide

Xu Xi [1020-1090] member of the Sung Dynasty's Imperial Academy for sixty years and regarded as one of China's greatest landscape artists. 

Looking at this ink representation "was an act of meditation, bringing the viewer to a state closer to Buddha. The Chan sect of Buddhism, the largest at the time ... said that rituals and religious study were a waste of time. Buddha existed in everyone and could be reached by meditating. In the highest state of meditation you could see the 'Absolute Principle' of all life. Meditating on nature, or art that represented the unity of nature, was a way to do this."

- Roy Bolton