This sheet – entitled by its author A Drunken Follower of Bacchus Adorning a Term – was originally part of one of the numerous albums,no. 18, in which Camuccini had collected the vast amount of graphic material produced during his long and brilliant career, characterized also by the practice of drawing. Sketching in pencil, pen, or with watercolours on a sheet of paper was for him an everyday rule of life, a categorical imperative, which allowed him to investigate, analyse, and reproduce the vestiges of the past, episodes of

pure invention, or details of the reality that surrounded him. Camuccini was in all respects a compulsive drawer. And this restlessness emerges with extraordinary evidence just from browsing through the albums of his impressive graphic production, where each sheet is scrupulously catalogued in view of a possible sale to some refined collector or art lover. According to the indications given by the artist himself, this drawing depicts a follower of Bacchus prey to the effects of alcohol who, in a clumsy attempt to ride a ram backwards, is trying to decorate the herm (“term”) of a bearded male figure with a festoon. At his feet,

a winged Genius is enjoying pouring more wine into a basin. The episode – of pure invention, but influenced by classical statuary – has a light and disengaged content which Camuccini made little room for during his career and, when present at all, appeared only in his graphic works. The drawing was made in pen using effortless strokes, while the volumes have been emphasized by means of a thin white lead hatching in the bright areas, interspersed with broad watercolour washes in the shadow areas, methods similar to those found in other drawings in the same album.

- Stefano Bosi