“Bacchus and Ariadne” by Sebastiano Ricci

“Bacchus and Ariadne” by Sebastiano Ricci shows Bacchus emerging with his followers and falling in love at first sight with the sleeping Ariadne. 

The story of Bacchus and Ariadne is based on a Roman legend written by the poet Ovid over two thousand years ago. Bacchus falls in love with Ariadne and offers to marry her.

He promises a crown of stars as a wedding gift. Ariadne was a favorite subject for paintings, sculptures, and vases with over 400 images of Ariadne in various pieces of art.

Ariadne’s story begins when as a daughter of the King Minos of Crete, she helps Theseus, an Athenian hero, to kill the Minotaur.

Ariadne saves Theseus by giving him a ball of thread which Theseus uses to find his way out of the labyrinth by following Ariadne’s thread back to the entrance.

After achieving his mission, Theseus sets sail to return to Athens, and he takes Ariadne with him. His ship stops on the island of Naxos, where Ariadne falls asleep and is then is deserted by Theseus.

This scene shows Ariadne sleeping, as is discovered by Bacchus and his partying entourage.

Sebastiano Ricci was an Italian painter of the late Baroque school of Venice. Ricci worked in several Italian cities, as well as London and Paris. He was in contact and was influenced by many leading artists of the period.

Bacchus and Ariadne

• Title:                 Bacchus and Ariadne
• Artist:               Sebastiano Ricci
• Year:                 1713
• Genre:              Mythological painting
• Type:                Oil on canvas
• Dimensions:    H: 75.9 cm (29.8 in); W: 63.2 cm (24.8 in)
• Museum:         National Gallery, London

Sebastiano Ricci

• Artist:             Sebastiano Ricci
• Born:              1659 – Venice
• Died:              1734 – Venice
• Period:           Baroque School of Venice
• Notable works:
  • Bacchus and Ariadne
  • Bathsheba

Sebastiano Ricci

Sebastiano Ricci

A Tour of the National Gallery, London

16th Century Paintings

• “Mystic Nativity” by Sandro Botticelli – 1550
• “Virgin of the Rocks” by Leonardo da Vinci – 1506
• “The Madonna of the Pinks” by Raphael – 1507
• “The Raising of Lazarus” by Sebastiano del Piombo– 1519
• “Salvator Mundi” by Andrea Previtali – 1519
• “Bacchus and Ariadne” by Titian – 1523
• “The Ambassadors” by Hans Holbein the Younger – 1533
• “Mary Magdalene” by Girolamo Savoldo – 1540
• “Saint George and the Dragon” by Tintoretto – 1558
• “The Family of Darius before Alexander” by Paolo Veronese – 1567
• “Diana and Actaeon” by Titian – 1569
• “The Rape of Europa” by Paolo Veronese – 1570
• “The Death of Actaeon” by Titian – 1575
• “The Origin of the Milky Way” by Tintoretto – 1575

17th Century Paintings

• “Supper at Emmaus” by Caravaggio – 1601
• “Samson and Delilah” by Peter Paul Rubens – 1610
• “Christ in the House of Martha and Mary” by Diego Velázquez – 1618
• “The Judgement of Paris” by Peter Paul Rubens – 1635
• “Aurora abducting Cephalus” by Peter Paul Rubens – 1637
• “Equestrian Portrait of Charles I” by Anthony van Dyck – 1638
• “Venus at her Mirror” by Diego Velázquez – 1651
• “The Courtyard of a House in Delft” by Pieter de Hooch – 1658
• “Self Portrait at the Age of 63” by Rembrandt – 1669
• “A Young Woman standing at a Virginal” by Johannes Vermeer – 1670

18th Century Paintings

• “Bacchus and Ariadne” by Sebastiano Ricci – 1713
• “A Regatta on the Grand Canal” by Canaletto – 1740
• “Mr. and Mrs. Andrews” by Thomas Gainsborough – 1749
• “Eton College” by Canaletto – 1754
• “An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump” by Joseph Wright of Derby – 1768
• “Self-portrait in a Straw Hat” by Louise Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun – 1782

19th Century Paintings

• “Portrait of Doña Isabel de Porcel” by Francisco Goya – 1805
• “The Emperor Napoleon I” by Horace Vernet – 1815
• “Dido Building Carthage” by J. M. W. Turner – 1815
• “Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows” by John Constable – 1831
• “The Execution of Lady Jane Grey” by Paul Delaroche – 1833
• “The Fighting Temeraire” by Joseph Mallord William Turner – 1839
• “Rain, Steam, and Speed – The Great Western Railway” by J. M. W. Turner – 1844
• “Cimabue’s Celebrated Madonna is carried in Procession through the Streets of Florence” by Frederic Leighton – 1855
• “Madame Moitessier” by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres– 1856
• “The Gare St-Lazare” by Claude Monet – 1877
• “Bathers at Asnières” by Georges Seurat – 1884
• “Sunflowers” by Vincent van Gogh – 1888
• “Tiger in a Tropical Storm” by Henri Rousseau – 1891
• “After the Bath, Woman Drying Herself” by Edgar Degas – 1895
• “Boulevard Montmartre at Night” by Camille Pissarro – 1898

Sebastiano Ricci

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“Wine is sunlight, held together by water.”
– Galileo Galilei

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Photo Credit: 1) Sebastiano Ricci [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons