Attributed to Guido Reni

Possibly commissioned by Queen Henrietta Maria of England (1609 - 1669) in 1637;
From whom possibly acquired by Michel Particelli d'Emery, Surintendant des Finances of France, (1596 - 1650) in 1648;
Thence by descent to his wife, Mme. Michel Particelli d'Emery by May 1650.

The following condition report has been provided by Simon Parkes of Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc. 502 East 74th St. New York, NY 212-734-3920, simonparkes@msn.com, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. This work has never been lined, which is certainly commendable and remarkable. There are visible additions on the left and right, but they seem to be original. The paint layer shows some raised cracking throughout, but given the fact that the work is not lined and quite broad and dramatic, it may be a consideration to leave it unlined. The paint layer is very dirty but very healthy. The heads of both figures have been tested and cleaned, as has the tambourine in the hands above. The loincloth on the larger figure has been broadly retouched, but is nonetheless original, at least in concept. This is a work that should be properly cleaned. Although some attention may have to be made to the stability of the paint layer, it is suggested that any lining or structural support be given a lot of thought, since this is a work that may be better left unlined.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

In one of the most famous projects of his late career, Guido Reni painted a Bacchus and Ariadne on the Island of Naxos in 1637/1640,  the last large scale work to be painted before his death two years later.  Although widely admired in its day, the picture was cut tragically into fragments within barely a decade of its creation, and subsequently lost (see below).  Fortunately, the composition was engraved in its complete state by one of Reni's students, Giovanni Battista Bolognini, thus preserving its original appearance (see fig. 1).

The present composition would appear to be the right hand extremity of Reni's original Bacchus and Ariadne, showing two faun followers of Bacchus with Silenus beyond, on his donkey, supported by two putti.  Upon firsthand inspection of the work both Keith Christiansen and David Stone recognized the hand of Guido Reni in the faces of the fauns and in the hands holding the tambourine though suggested, as with the majority of Guido's large scale compositions, the likely involvement of his studio in the execution of certain passages.  Camillo Manzitti, meanwhile is in favor of a full attribution to Guido Reni, believing this work to indeed be a fragment of the original.  He furthermore suggested that the addition to the right edge of the painting was executed in order to centralize the figures within the composition and to avoid any concealment of Silenus by an eventual framing of the work. 

Although there are indeed variances in detail between Bolognini's engraving and the present composition, these would appear incidental.  The drapery over the hip of the right hand figure may have been added later and so too the still life of flask and glass of wine, perhaps subsequent to the painting's division in order to bestow the fragment with the more cohesive and traditional composition of a Bacchanal.  Yet the presence of a tambourine, under the feet of the larger faun and still visible to the naked eye below the paint surface, provides a compelling argument in favor of the fragment's origin.  This corresponds with the engraving closely and may have been covered over at the time the other changes were made. This Two Fauns in a Bacchic Dance is not the first fragment from the composition to survive; in 2002, Denis Mahon and Andrea Emiliani discovered a fragment portraying the beautiful and vulnerable figure of Ariadne, now in the Pinacoteca Nazionale di Bologna.¹   The addition to the left hand edge of the Ariadne canvas shows that, far from being obliterated, the canvas had been carefully cut to preserve the figures, presumably to facilitate their sale as individual fragments.  It too is painted on a heavy weave canvas that appears to correspond to that used in the present picture. 

In its original form the majestic and monumental Bacchus and Ariadne on the Island of Naxos was commissioned by Queen Henrietta Maria of England, wife of Charles I and sister of King Louis XIII of France  decorate the ceiling of her bed chamber in the Queen's Palace in Greenwich.  In 1637, Henrietta Maria enlisted the assistance of Cardinal Francesco Barberini, Cardinal Protector of England and Scotland, who was entrusted with choosing the subject of the painting and mediating with the artist himself from his offices in Rome.²  Keen to maintain a felicitous affiliation with the Catholic queen, Barberini followed the commission closely.  When the painting was finally completed in 1640, Cardinal Barberini expressed concerns in a letter to Rossetti, the English court's papal agent, that the painting was perhaps excessively lascivious, "tanto più che fu scelta qua la favola, tanto più mi arrestò d'inviarlo per non aggiungere scandolo a codesti Heretici."³   While the painting remained in Rome awaiting a decision it was copied by Romanelli at Barberini's behest and numerous versions with variations executed.⁴  

However, the Queen was forced to flee England before she was able to take possession of the picture, finally arriving with her in Paris in 1647.  Following the beheading of Charles I, the impecunious Queen was forced to sell the Bacchus and Ariadne to Michel Particelli d'Emery, the Surintendant des Finances of France, who also died soon after.  It was in the hands of the financier's widow that the painting reached its disastrous end; historiographer, Félibien tells how Mme Particelli d'Emery ordered the work to be cut up immediately following the death of her husband in 1650, due to its scandalous subject and excessive nudity, a fate which Barberini's canny comments had presaged.⁵ 

1.  S. Guarini, Pinacoteca Nazionale di Bologna, Catalogo Generale, 3. Guido Reni e il Seicento, ed. J. Bentini, G.P. Cammarota, A. Mazza, D, Scaglietti Kelescian, A. Stanzani, Venice 2009, p.76, no. 36.
2.  S. Madocks, "'Trop de beautez découvertes' – New light on Guido Reni's late Bacchus and Ariadne" in The Burlington Magazine, vol. 126 no. 978, Sept. 1984, p. 545.
3.  Barb.lat.8648, fol.135 r-v, Letter from Barberini to Rossetti, dated 8th September 1640, in S. Madocks, op. cit., pp.545-546, translates: "And since the subject was chosen here, I hesitate to send it for fear of further scandalizing these Heretics."
4.  For a full list of versions and copies see D.S. Pepper, Guido Reni, A Complete Catalogue of his Works with an Introductory Text, New York 1984, pp. 278 – 279, no. 169.
5.  A. Félibien, Entretiens sur les vies et sur les ouvrages des plus excellens peintres anciens et modernes, vol. III, Trévoux 1725,  p. 510.