She was all alone. Teseo, her beloved Teseo, had abandoned her on this island. The dangers that she had endured to safe her lover from her fathers’s feared maze, the death of her half-brother, the minotaur, the flight from her home, … What did she endure all these strains for? Ariadne fell asleep, tired and with swollen red eyes. Her last thought went to her disloyal lover.
Ariadne felt a hand that softly caressed her face and her hair. Her first thought went to Teseo until she remembered that he had left her on the island of Naxos. Ariadne opened her eyes and saw a beautiful young man that lovingly looked at her.
The myth around Ariadne’s life indicates this young man as the god Dionysus*. For Dionysus it was love on first sight and so he chose Ariadne as his wife. He took the diadem decorated with precious stones that the princess Ariadne** was wearing and threw it direction sky where we can still admire it in the constellation of the Northern Crown (Corona Borealis).
Jacopo Tintoretto chose the story of Ariadne and Dionysus for his masterpiece located today in the Doge’s Palace.
Let’s have a better look at the painting
On the left we see a beautiful, young, blonde woman sitting on a thrown. The thrown is covered with precious fabrics. She is naked: Only a precious blue fabric covers her hips.
A second beautiful blonde woman – whose face we can’t see as it is averted – hovers on right of Ariadne in the air and holds a golden crown above her head.
On the right a young man, naked, steps out of the floods of the sea. His head and hips are covered in vine leaves. The grape on his hip is a lead by Tintoretto indicating us that this young man is actually the god Dionysus, the god of wine. In his left hand he holds a golden ring between his thumb and index finger.
Tintoretto shows us in his painting the exact moment when Dionysus and Ariadne get married.
But why did Tintoretto choose this story for a painting that was supposed for the Doge’s Palace, the political centre?
Tintoretto celebrated in his painting the myth of Venice, a powerful, Christian state that was ruled with wisdom. According to Carlo Ridolfi (17th century) Tintoretto wanted to communicate the following:
The young girl, Ariadne, symbolizes Venice, the queen of the sea, born right on the beach. Dionysus rises from the sea with a wedding ring symbolizing their union and making Ariadne immortal. Her union is blessed by Venus/Aphrodite who crowns Ariadne with the crown of liberty.
The starry crown, getting itself part of sky, elevates Venice in the rank of immortality. The golden ring refers to the annual festivity of the „Sposalizio del Mare“ (Wedding with the sea) that is celebrated on Ascension Day in May. (You can find more infos on this festivity in my blog here.)
The painting itself is part of a serial of allegoric paintings that Tintoretto painted for the Serenissima and is located in the Anticollegio of the Doge’s Palace:
- Nozze di Bacco e Arianna
- Minerva protegge Pace e Abbondanza da Marte
- La fucina di Vulcano
- Mercurio e le tre Grazie
*Bacchus/God of Wine
**Daughter of the king Minos
