Antoine Coypel (Paris 1661 - 1722) Workshop
Idyll between Dionysus and Ariadne
Oil on canvas
78x 101 cm
Framed 97 x 120 cm
Full details of the work (click HERE)
The pleasant composition illustrates the myth of the love between Ariadne and the god Dionysus, a classic subject highly appreciated and recurrent in Baroque and Rococo art because it is linked to hedonism and love: the episode was indeed represented as a pretext to celebrate the joy of life's pleasures (wine, love, sensuality) in contrast to the fleetingness of time, often associated with the Renaissance concept of "Carpe Diem".
The work derives, albeit varying in some aspects, from one of the most famous compositions by Antoine Coypel (Paris 1661 - 1722) commissioned by the Duke of Orléans in 1693, brother of King Louis XIV, to decorate the study in the castle of Saint-Cloud, and is now housed at the Philadelphia Museum of Art (oil on canvas, 73x85.5 cm; inv. no. 1990-54-1).
The composition immediately became very popular, and therefore several copies, studies, and period prints exist. Another version, in oil on copper and smaller in size, is preserved at the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg.
The artist himself made an engraving of it in 1693, contributing to its diffusion. Various prints and copies are found in museums and private collections, including a print preserved at the Certosa e Museo Nazionale di San Martino in Naples.
Going into the details of the composition, the amorous idyll between the god Dionysus, called Bacchus by the Romans, and the beautiful Ariadne, daughter of King Minos of Crete, is staged, as described by classical sources and particularly by the Latin poet Ovid (Metamorphoses, Book VIII).
Ariadne was deceived and abandoned on the island of Naxos by the young Athenian hero Theseus, whom she had fallen in love with and had helped to defeat the terrible Minotaur. After learning of her beloved's betrayal, the princess began to despair relentlessly until her sad lament reached the ears of the god Bacchus, who, upon seeing her, was fascinated by her beauty, fell madly in love with her, and decided to marry her.
Behind them, with a lit torch, is depicted Fame, who sanctions her eternal memory in the constellation that will take its name from her.
The canvas, which draws on the classical source, is set in an idyllic landscape on the coast of the island, at the moment when Bacchus arrives, followed by his retinue of nymphs and satyrs, with one hand on his heart and the other grabbing Ariadne's arm to make her his marriage proposal.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
The work is sold complete with a pleasant frame and is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity and a descriptive iconographic sheet.
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