GALLIARI, Bernardino
(b. 1707, Andorno Micca, d. 1794, Andorno Micca)

The Marriage of Bacchus and Ariadne

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Oil on canvas
Galleria Sabauda, Turin

The subject of the painting is taken from Ovid's Metamorphoses. It was Ariadne, the daughter of King Minos of Crete, who helped Theseus, whom she loved, to escape from the labyrinth with the aid of a ball of string, but all she had in return was to be abandoned by him on the island of Naxos. Here Bacchus came to her rescue. Bacchus took her jeweled crown and flung it into the heavens where it became a constellation. Ariadne was readily consoled by him and they were married shortly afterwards.




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