DionysosAriadne1.0085

Sebastiano Ricci, 1659-1734, "Bacchus and Ariadne," ca. 1700-1720, oil on canvas, London, National Gallery, NG851.

The bacchanalia stops in its tracks as Dionysos stumbles upon the sleeping Ariadne. Theseus, with whom she spent the last night, is now nowhere to be found, not even on the horizon (where he typically appears in the standard iconography). However, perhaps the white spot beside the satyr's left tricep is the sheet of Theseus' rigging on the distant beach. Use the National Gallery site's zoom feature to take a closer look (or click tiff).

Ricci is thought perhaps to have based his composition uopn a painting by Carpioni (d. 1674). The abject vulnerability of the abandoned Ariadne is quite remarkable. One ought also to consider John Vanderlyn's 1812 Ariadne (=Ariadne1.0130_Vanderlyn), which may well have Sebastiano Ricci as forebear.