Bacchus and Ariadne: the Giudo Reni masterpiece 

 This is a story that Federico Zeri would have loved. The adventures in the fate Guido Reni’s great masterpiece “Bacchus and Ariadne,” which has now been lost (well, not completely lost, as we will see).

This story involves Popes and nobles, kings and princesses, auction houses, families in decline, and wealthy South American families.
But first things first: the year is 1637.  Pope Urban VIII and his nephew, cardinal Francesco Barberini, commissioned Guido Reni to paint a very large canvas on the theme of Bacchus and Ariadne for Henriette Marie de Bourbon, wife of the King of England Charles I Stuart. 

Why was the Bacchus and Ariadne painting commissioned?

Bacchus and Ariadne were meant to be a wedding gift. The location was to be the ceiling of the royal alcove and the goal was to establish good diplomatic/religious relations with the Crown of England.

Guido Reni finished the painting

In 1640 Guido Reni managed to finish the work – though with no little difficulty – and send it to the Vatican. 

Guido Reni’s workshop 

Between 1640 and 1642, the Papacy commissioned Reni for several copies of the Bacchus and Ariadne painting.
The artist delegated fulfilling these commissions to his workshop and was personally involved only marginally. One version was painted by his students Antonio Giarola (Verona 1597-1674) and Giovanni Andrea Sirani (Bologna 1610-1670), made for Cardinal Giulio Sacchetti, and is now in the Accademia di San Luca in Rome. Another much more accurate version was painted under the artist’s direction by his student Giacomo Bolognini (Bologna 1664-1734).

Henriette Marie de Bourbon moved to France 

The changing fates of the Barberini papacy and religious upheavals in England forced Henriette to head to France where she would finally, after much effort, receive the painting. (1640-1645)

 Advisor to Cardinal Duke of Richelieu 

Due to economic hardship, in 1650 the painting was sold to Michel Particelli d’Hemery who would be the last person to see the magnificent painting in its entirety.

Dismembering a large painting to sell it more easily!

In 1678 Guido Reni’s biography in Carlo Cesare Malvasia’s “Felsina pittrice,” describes how the painting was dismembered and cut into pieces, so as to be sold more easily.

Bolognini’s copy at Christie’s

In 1777 the painting by Giacomo Bolognini was owned by the Lord of Essex in England and then sold at Christie’s auction house. 

 Lord Bertram Ashburnham

Lord Bertram Ashburnham became its owner and chose to sell it in 1850, also at Christie’s. 

Montevideo collection

Between 1900and 2000 the Bolognini painting then came to Rio de Janeiro in South America and was then reported to have gone to Buenos Aires and lastly to Uruguay as part of a prestigious private collection in Montevideo.

The fragment found

It was believed for centuries that the artist’s original painting had been completely destroyed, possibly because of the nudity depicted; but then in 2002 Andrea Emiliani and Sir Denis Mahon recognized the distinctive hand of the great master in a fragment owned by the Fondazione del Monte di Bologna e Ravenna.

The exhibition

“Bacchus and Ariadne” by Guido Reni. Unusual Events and New Proposals “ curated by Andrea Emiliani 

This beautiful painting has such a fascinating history that it was worth the exhibition about it put on at the Pinacoteca Nazionale in Bologna in 2018.

All of Bacchus and Ariadne‘s major versions were shown together for the first time.

The brings us to the end of the fascinating story of an incredible painting by Guido Reni (at least as far as we know !)

Our product catalog features the work Bacchus and Ariadne on the Island of Naxos Oil on canvas from the early 18th century.

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