Bacchus and Ariadne
ca. 1740
Medium
Pen and brown ink, brown wash, over black chalk.
Dimensions
12 5/16 x 9 9/16 in. (31.2 x 24.3 cm)
Classification
Drawings
Department
Robert Lehman Collection
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Robert Lehman Collection, 1975
Accession Number
1975.1.443
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the whimsical world of Venetian Rococo with Giovanni Battista Tiepolo'sBacchus and Ariadne (ca. 1740), a captivating drawing from the Robert Lehman Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. This intimate sheet depicts the mythological lovers: Bacchus, the god of wine, embracing Ariadne, the Cretan princess he rescued after her abandonment by Theseus. a dramatic flourish, Bacchus offers her a starry crown, which legend says became the constellation Corona Borealis—symbolizing eternal love amid revelry. Tiepolo, a master of the 18th-century Venetian Rococo style, was renowned for ...
About the Artist
Giovanni Battista Tiepolo · 1696–1770
Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (1696-1770) stands as the greatest decorative painter of eighteenth-century Europe, a Venetian master whose luminous frescoes and dynamic compositions defined the Rococo era's aesthetic zenith. Born in Venice on March 5, 1696, to a modest shipping merchant family, Tiepolo's extraordinary talent transcended his humble origins to establish him as the most sought-after artis...