The Triumph of Bacchus by Diego Velazquez and Golden Rectangles

The Triumph of Bacchus is a 1629 painting by Velázquez, now in the Prado in Madrid, showing Bacchus surrounded by drunks. It is popularly known as Los borrachos or The Drunks. The painting is firm and solid, and the light and shade are more deftly handled than in former works. Altogether, this production may be taken as the most advanced example of the first style of Velázquez.

A golden rectangle is a rectangle whose side lengths are in the golden ratio, one-to-phi, that is, approximately 1:1.618. A distinctive feature of this shape is that when a square section is removed, the remainder is another golden rectangle, that is, with the same proportions as the first. Square removal can be repeated infinitely, which leads to an approximation of the golden or Fibonacci spiral. Post a comment.