# Dance of Italian Villagers [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [RUBENS, Peter Paul]() - Date: 1601-1650 - Technique: Oil on wood, 73 x 106 cm ## Commentary Dance of Italian Villagers c. 1636 Oil on wood, 73 x 106 cm Museo del Prado, Madrid This scene is set, like the Flemish Kermis, against a timeless natural background. In this painting Rubens transposes the bucolic spirit of contemporary mythological compositions into the ambiance of popular genre subject matter. Several of the figures are dressed "all' antica" and Bacchus himself is dancing in a landscape which with its Italianate architectural elements creates a distinctly Arcadian impression. <p> <table align=left cellpadding=5 border=1 width=320 bgcolor="\#99cccc"> <tr valign=middle><td><img src="/support/gif/listen.gif" border=0 valign=middle> Suggested listening \(streaming mp3, 4 minutes\):<br><a href="\#" onClick="w=window.open \('/music1/19\_cent/rossini\_la\_danza.html', 'newWin', 'scrollbars=yes,status=no,dependent=yes,screenX=0,screenY=0,width=350,height=350'\);w.opener=this;w.focus\(\);return true"><b>Gioacchino Rossini: La Danza</b></a> </td></tr></table> ## Related artworks - [A Forest at Dawn with a Deer Hunt]() - [Adoration of the Magi]() - [Adoration of the Magi]() - [Adoration of the Magi]() - [Adoration of the Shepherds]() - [Adoration of the Shepherds]() - [Albert and Nicolaas Rubens]() - [Alfonso d'Este, Duke of Ferrara]() - [Allegorical Glorification of King James I]() - [Allegorical Glorification of King James I]() - [Allegorical Glorification of King James I]() - [Allegorical Glorification of King James I]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()