ANDREA DE LEONE | ARIADNE ASLEEP IN A CLASSICAL LANDSCAPE WITH SILENUS AND HIS RETINUE APPROACHING

Dukes of Osuna, Seville;

With Artur Ramòn, Barcelona;

From whom acquired by the present owner.

V. Farina, Il giovane Salvator Rosa: 1635-1640 circa, Naples 2010;

M. Di Penta, Andrea De Leone, Rome 2016, p. 117, cat. no. Q55, reproduced in color.

Recently rediscovered, this elegant composition depicts a scene from the life of the Greek goddess Ariadne. Though most paintings of her depict the arrival of Bacchus, here Leone has chosen to paint the quiet moments before, when Ariadne is still asleep beneath a tree and blissfully unaware of her abandonment by Theseus. She has not yet been awakened, but the approach of the bacchantes and satyrs in the distance signal the coming arrival of her new lover. The influence of Poussin is evident here in the classical elements and balanced composition.