Michelangelo’s Bacchus is the poster child for a successful Wine Wednesday.

Nothing is quite like getting wine-drunk in the middle of the work week and no one knows the feeling better than Bacchus, the Roman God of Wine and Pleasure. The story behind Michelangelo’s portrait of the Roman god is as straightforward as Bacchus’ tipsy posture, so uncork your favorite bottle of red, white, or rosé, pour yourself a generous glass, and let’s get this party started.

In 1496, Michelangelo was a budding artist living in Florence and had just finished a life-sized sculpture entitled Sleeping Cupid (which is now unfortunately lost). Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de’Medici was impressed by Michelangelo’s craftsmanship and the sculpture’s likeness to real works from antiquity. Lorenzo encouraged Michelangelo to age the work artificially, which basically means breaking off pieces of the marble, most notably the penis, and selling it as a real antique. Michelangelo agreed to the con and with Lorenzo’s help, the Sleeping Cupid was sent to Rome and sold to Cardinal Raffaele Riario as an authentic antique sculpture. Soon after the sale, Riario became aware of the fraud and demanded a full refund. Despite being made the fool, Riario was still impressed with Michelangelo’s technique, so he summoned the artist to Rome for a commission.

Once arriving in Rome, Michelangelo was given a tour of Riario’s collection of classical artwork and tasked with sculpting an antiquesque Bacchus which would be publicly displayed in the Palazzo della Cancelleria.  Riario was probably expecting a muscular and stoic male figure typical of antique art, but Michelangelo clearly wasn’t on the same page as his patron. Unlike his ancient Greek and Roman predecessors, Michelangelo chose to sculpt the god as a young boy with a soft, curvy, effeminate body. With a gaping mouth, drilled pupils that are struggling to see straight, and a lopsided stance, Michelangelo’s Bacchus looks more like a drunk sixteen year old after breaking into his dad’s liquor cabinet than an esteemed Roman god.

As you might expect, a respectable cardinal like Riario was not pleased with the final product. The subject might have been from antiquity, but Michelangelo’s interpretation, which glorifies drunkenness and sexuality, was not fit for the cardinal’s private collection. Just like with the Sleeping Cupid, Riario felt slighted by Michelangelo, so he rejected the sculpture. Michelangelo saw Riario’s rejection of his artwork as an attack on his talent and pride. Michelangelo was hoping Bacchus would establish him as a sought after sculptor in Rome, but now his debut in The Eternal City was less than remarkable.

Luckily for Michelangelo, Bacchus was quickly bought by Riario’s neighbor, a banker named Jacopo Galli, who displayed the youthful drunkard in his garden. Just to spite Riario, Michelangelo promoted a false narrative that Bacchus was originally sculpted for Galli. It was not until 1981, when payment records connecting Riario to Bacchus were uncovered, that the world heard the true origin story of Michelangelo’s most intoxicating work.