Ariadne1.0166_Leighton

Frederic, Lord Leighton, 1830-1896, "Ariadne Abandoned by Theseus; Ariadne Watches for His Return; Artemis Releases Her by Death," oil on canvas, c. 1868, Hyderabad, Telangana, India, Salar Jung Museum.

Ariadne is typically shown in one of two postures — either sleeping in oblivion while Theseus escapes or frantically gesturing to the departing ship — neither of which seems to be in Leighton's mind here. One variant title and her lassitude here suggest that Leighton's Ariadne is dead, consistent either with Homer's version (that Artemis killed the girl for having eloped with Theseus against her betrothal to Dionysos, ) or with a variant legend that Ariadne died giving birth to Theseus' child. Perhaps she has merely fainted in her grief.

Note this picture's similarity to G. F. Watts' later Ariadne in Naxos (1875) the painting Watts himself called his "most complete picture".Is that because of its affinity to Leighton's?