Taunting the Stranger

Another piece from Euripides' Bacchae. In this scene, soldiers have brought 'the stranger' before Pentheus, King of Thebes. The man has been spreading the worship of Dionysus, son of Zeus, whom Pentheus does not recognize among the Olympian gods. Little does he know that the stranger is actually Dionysus in human form, a human form that is quite feminine, as Pentheus points out. Dionysus has a few humorous exchanges with him before being imprisoned. He later drives Pentheus insane and gets him killed.

I did this in pastels on masonite yesterday. I think I might have had better blending if it had been on paper, but I like trying out new things. Unlike the last picture, I gave him a leopard skin instead of a leopard-print cape. I also gave him some eyeliner to keep up the asian influences on him. According to myth, he was raised in India, I think, since Hera tried to kill him.