Michelangelo has altered this conception.

Bacchus, with him, is a terrestrial young man, upon the verge of toppling over into drunkenness.

The value of the work is its realism.

The attitude could not be sustained in actual life for a moment without either the goblet spilling its liquor or the body reeling side-ways.

Not only are the eyes wavering and wanton, but the muscles of the mouth have relaxed into a tipsy smile; and, instead of the tiger-skin being suspended from the left arm, it has slipped down, and is only kept from falling by the loose grasp of the trembling hand.