Collection

1689 BACCHUS AND ARIADNE

Sebastiano Ricci, 1659 Belluno – 1734
Venice, attributed to BACCHUS AND ARIADNE Oil on canvas. Old doubling.
84 × 71 cm.
Handwritten annotation verso on stretcher.
Unframed.

A slightly smaller version of the present painting with reduced figural staffage and numerous minor changes – for example in the attire of Bacchus – is held at the National Gallery in London (inv. no.
NG851).
Provenance:
Nando Peretti collection.
Cesare Lampronti collection.

On the horizon, a calm body of water reveals the proximity of the shore to the scene in the foreground, in which a young man rushes from the right to a young woman lying on the ground under a red canopy on the left. Several figures and putti complete the scene.