Drunkenness of Noah

Drunkenness of Noah
Artist Giovanni Bellini
Year about 1515
Medium Oil on canvas
Dimensions 103 cm × 157 cm (41 in × 62 in)
Location Musée des Beaux-Arts, Besançon

Drunkenness of Noah is a painting by the Italian artist Giovanni Bellini. It was finished about 1515. it is kept in the Museum of Fine Arts and Archeology of Besançon, France.

Composition

Noah is sleeping naked. The Cup and the bunches of grapes (on the foreground), and the vineyard (in the back) suggests that Noah is drunk. These three sons are represented at his side. Shem and Japhet (left and right) avert their eyes and cover their father with a red cloth. But Ham, the third son, laughs when he see his father naked.

Origins

The work refers to Genesis 9:20–23

20 In those days Noah became a farmer, and he made a vine-garden. 21 And he took of the wine of it and was overcome by drink; and he was uncovered in his tent. 22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father unclothed, and gave news of it to his two brothers outside. 23 And Shem and Japheth took a robe, and putting it on their backs went in with their faces turned away, and put it over their father so that they might not see him unclothed.[1]

References

  1. http://saintscriptures.com/genesis.asp?start=220&page=12
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