Oil on canvas depicting a drunk Silenus. His naked body is soflty lying overcome by wine, as suggested by the grape clusters close to him. In the background the mountain landscape is lit by the moon. The contrast between light and darkness, and between the shadow and the bright colors makes the painting extremely dynamic and enchanting.
According to Professor Marco Riccomini, the painting was inspired by a Roman marble sculpture today at the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, and the author was probably active in northern Italy in the early 1700s. The Austrian artist Paul Troger (Monguelfo 1698, Wien 1762) may be the author: he was born in Puster Valley and travelled around Italy, from Venice - where he met Giovanni Battista Piazzetta - to the workshop of Francesco Solimena in Naples, while in Bologna he practiced with Giuseppe Maria Crespi. The first owner of the painting was the artist Ambrogio Riva (1799-1881), pupil of Pelagio Palagi.
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