Throughout history wine has intermingled with almost all spheres of human activity and particularly so with Art. Here is one such painting created in 1640s which depicts an interesting anecdote. It is named as The trick of the wine, and done by the famous 17th CE Florence artist Baldassarre Franceschini, also known as Il Volterranno.
The protagonist in the painting is Arlotto Mainardi (1396-1484), a priest (standing at the right of the frame) well-known for his wit and jokes. The scene is set in Florence, a short distance away from Villa della Mula (visible in the background). Here, at a meal with other young priests Arlotto is invited by the host to go to the cellar to tap wine from the cask. Resentful of being chosen to tackle the stairs rather than the younger men, the practical joker decides to take his revenge. The scene captures the climax of the good-natured joke.
Arlotto returns to the table with a full carafe of wine and claims to have forgotten to close the tap on the keg, provoking the agitated reaction of the host who can be seen leaping from his chair to run down to repair the damage while his companions look on in astonishment and amusement.
Source – https://bit.ly/2yVuA9C, sketch from google
