
by Titian, 1523
Titian rendered this Bacchus and Ariadne between 1520 and 1523 for Alfonso I d'Este, Duke of Ferrara. The work was part of a cycle decorating the Camerino d'Alabastro, a private room in the ducal palazzo. It was actually a substitute: the Duke had commissioned Raphael for a similar subject, but Raphael died in 1520.
The painting illustrates a story from Ovid and Catullus. Princess Ariadne has been abandoned on Naxos by Theseus, whose ship sails away in the distance. The god of wine leaps from his chariot toward her, falling in love at first sight. Two cheetahs (tigers in Ovid's text) draw his chariot, likely modeled on animals from the Duke's menagerie.
Bacchus later threw Ariadne's crown into the sky, immortalizing her as the constellation Corona Borealis, shown as stars above her head. The painting hangs at the National Gallery in London, purchased in 1826 and considered one of Titian's greatest works.

Francesco Guardi
National Gallery, London

Claude Monet
National Gallery, London

Rembrandt van Rijn
National Gallery, London

Raphael
National Gallery, London
Other masterpieces from the Renaissance movement

Sandro Botticelli, 1476
Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Florence

Sandro Botticelli, 1485
Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Florence

Raphael, 1511
Vatican Museums, Vatican City

Sandro Botticelli, 1482
Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Florence

Raphael, 1510
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

Raphael, 1512
Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Dresden, Dresden

El Greco, 1614
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

Leonardo da Vinci, 1500
Private Collection, Unknown
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