English: Drawing of Bacchus from ancient Roman mural in Pompeii by Henri Roux the Elder, 1870. Translated related text: We owe this fresco to the custom, adopted by the inhabitants of the towns of Campania, of adorning the exterior walls of their dwellings with various paintings of deities. Thus the houses, and especially the shops of Pompeii, offered Mercurys, Isis, Mars, and even the twelve great gods united. A wine merchant, established in the street where the entrance to the Pantheon is, had Mercury painted on one side of his shop, so that this god might protect his small business, and on the other, the inventor of wine, his boss, Bacchus that we publish here.

The ivy crown, the thyrsos, the blue chlamys, the sandals, these are his costume and his attributes. Legs crossed, he leans with one arm on a sort of altar, and squeezes the juice of a bunch of grapes into a lower crater. A panther seems to yelp in front of him like the familiar dog claiming his share of a feast. The attitude of this figure is fortunately found, but the execution mediocre. It is not in our streets, however, that we will find anything to compare to this cabaret sign.

In the vignette, more vases and palm leaves; always athletic prizes: more than capricious execution; infinitely varied shapes of vases!