Review
"Orso's study challenges...old biases by substituting the painting within its historical context...It is, without a doubt, the best work in English on mythological painting in Spain. It also significantly expands our knowledge of the artist's creative process and of artistic politics at court. Art historians will be delighted by the generous illustrations, the invaluable appendices, and the copious bibliography. Historians will find its contextual approach and broad historical scope engaging. Orso's third book...upholds his reputation as one of the major voices in the field, and secures his position as the leading authority on art production during the reign of King Philip IV." SSPHS Bulletin

"Steven Orso's meticulously researched and convincingly argued study advances a new and intriguing interpretation of the painting, and proposes a correspondingly new title: Bacchus in Iberia....Orso's prose is clear and unobstructed, fluidly moving the reader through what might, in less skilled hands, be a dry exhibition of historical proofs. Overall, his interpretation is carefully argued, leaving one with the conviction that the painting indeed merits its proposed new title, Bacchus in Iberia." Susan Webster, Renaissance Quarterly

Book Description
This book explains the origins of Los Borrachos ("The Drunkards"), a celebrated but bewildering mythological painting of international fame, created by Diego de Velázquez for Philip IV of Spain around 1628-29. By studying Velázquez's early years at court (1623-29) and the role that historians of his day assigned to Bacchus, the author reaches a dramatic new interpretation of the picture. There are many monographs devoted to Velázquez's entire life, but no book focuses on this painting or the artist's early career at court in such depth.

FROM OUR EDITORS

Steven N. Orso uses his analysis of Vel￯﾿ﾽzquez's "Los Borrachos" as a springboard for discussing intrigue and rivalry in the Spanish art world as artists endeavored to curry favor in the court of King Phillip IV. The enigmatic painting in question ("The Drunkards," in English) was painted by Vel￯﾿ﾽzquez in 1628 to please the king. Orso looks at the 17th-century Spanish obsession with Bacchus, and other forces in the culture of the time that informed Vel￯﾿ﾽzquez's choice of subject and style.

FROM THE PUBLISHER