Titian created the original painting of Bacchus and Ariadne in 1518. At that time, it was commissioned by Alfonso dÕEste I, Duke of Ferrara. The painting is located in the picture room of the Castello Estense in Modena, Italy. Bacchus sits on a tree trunk surrounded by a crowd of patrons and attendants. He is wearing a lion skin, has a staff-like thyrsus and uses an animal hide as a cloak. The setting appears remote and wild with bare trees. Bacchus and Ariadne is one of Titian´s most famous works.
One of only thirty-two paintings by Titian in the United States, showing dramatic contrast between the calm actions of a young man and woman as they view landscape scenery and the formal pose of a satyr. This is not an obvious subject for Titian to treat, because he was an artist who shunned narrative scenes in favor of more private moments, yet the power of this work is undeniable.
