Bacchus and Ariadne 1520-3

By Titian (active about 1506 died 1576)

This painting tells a love story from Roman mythology. It shows the moment when Bacchus, the god of wine, leaps from his chariot to comfort Ariadne, a princess who has been abandoned by her boyfriend Theseus on the Greek island of Naxos. You can just see Theseus’s ship sailing away in the distance to the left, behind Ariadne.

Bacchus falls in love with Ariadne at first sight. He asks her to marry him, and offers her a crown of stars as a sign of his love and a wedding gift – you can see this in the sky above Ariadne’s head. On the right-hand side of the picture are Bacchus' wild and noisy group of followers, which includes a snake-wrestling satyr, a satyr dragging a calf’s head, and Silenus – Bacchus’s teacher – who is so drunk he has to be carried by a donkey! They look like they’ve come straight from a party and have been making their own music with cymbals, a tambourine and a horn.

What do you think Ariadne and Bacchus might be feeling at this moment? What do you think will happen next? Can you imagine what the music and singing might sound like?

_{Oil on canvas
The National Gallery, London}

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