Bacchus and Ariadne

Full analysis

Titian painted Bacchus and Ariadne 1520-1523 for Alfonso I d'Este's Camerino d'Alabastro, Ferrara, inheriting the commission after Raphael died having only sketched it. Drawing on Catullus and Ovid, the abandoned Cretan princess Ariadne is discovered by Bacchus, who leaps from his cheetah-drawn chariot toward her; the constellation Corona Borealis above foretells her apotheosis. The composition splits diagonally: a still triangle of brilliant ultramarine sky (costly lapis lazuli) against a lower-right frieze of tumbling revelers in earthy tones. A satyr entangled in snakes echoes the Laocoön, rediscovered in Rome in 1506. A 1967-68 National Gallery cleaning removing discolored varnish proved controversial, with critics arguing the sky was left flat and cold, stripped of Titian's softening final glazes.

Technique & materials

Oil on canvas, 176.5 x 191 cm. The sky is laid in with pure ground lapis lazuli ultramarine; the revelers below use earthier ochres and greens with oil-rich glazes. The canvas was rolled twice in its first century, stressing the paint layer.

Provenance

Delivered to Ferrara in 1523; remained until the Este collection dispersed in the early 17th century, passing through Roman collections (including Aldobrandini). Acquired in London in 1806 by J.J. Angerstein, whose collection formed the National Gallery's founding core in 1824. Catalogued as NG35.

Conservation history

19th-century restorers repeatedly arrested active flaking from the early rolling damage. The 1967-68 National Gallery cleaning removed discolored varnish, taking some original paint with it — a contentious intervention still debated among critics and conservators.