Bacchus and Ariadne

Ceiling of the Egyptian Hall

Louis Chéron, c. 1695

oil on plaster 4.54 x 8.8m

The subject, from Ovid's Metamorphoses, book viii, lines 176 - 82, shows the Wedding Procession of Bacchus and Ariadne, the daughter of King Minos of Crete, whom he rescued on the island of Naxos. Ariadne's crown of stars is a reference to the constellation which was formed by Bacchus when he flung Ariadne's jewelled crown into the heavens. Although there are three drawings of Bacchic revels in Chérons albums at the British Museum (Croft Murray and Hulton, 1960, 5 (37) recto and verso, (38), all three are set in a pastoral landscape and are therefore unlikely to be preparatory sketches for this ceiling.

Back to Painting Index