Caravaggio’s painting depicts Bacchus drinking wine. The god is seated in front of a table laden with fruits and a glass jug of wine. He is dressed in an airy garment that leaves the right side of his body uncovered, and he has a wreath of vine leaves and fruit on his head.

The depiction has naturalistic features, and Dionysus’ face is reminiscent of Greco-Roman models, alluding to the Dionysian thiasus and the rites held in Rome in his honor. Caravaggio made this masterpiece under the patronage of Cardinal Francesco Maria del Monte in order to be donated to Ferdinando I of the Medici on the occasion of his son Cosimo II's wedding in 1608.