Bacchus and Ariadne (c.1680)

Bacchus and Ariadne (c 1680)

Lairesse, Gérard de (1641-1711)

Bacchus and Ariadne
c.1680
Oil on canvas, 175.2 x 92.5 cm
RijksmuseumAmsterdam (on loan from Mauritshuis, The Hague)

Ovid described the following scene in his Metamorphoses: on the island of Naxos, Bacchus, the god of wine, chances upon the heartbroken and abandoned Ariadne. He takes her as his wife and gives her a crown of seven stars, which he subsequently casts up into the heavens. Lairesse revived Dutch painting with a classicizing style that was inspired by works from Greek and Roman antiquity. (RIJKS)

See also:

• Ovid (43 BC-17/18 AD): The Metamorphoses, Vols. I & II (English)