Lot 1597 D α

Taken from Ovid in The Art of Loving (I, 525-26), the mythical encounter between Ariadne and Bacchus on the island of Naxos under the gaze of Venus, is a subject often visited by Conca.
The present version, with a darker palette and a dramatic use of light, strongly recalls Solimena´s technique and can be put in relation to the canvas from the William Mostyn-Owen collection (see: Sebastiano Conca, exhibition cat., Gaeta, Palazzo De Vio, 1981, no. 13B) and to an autograph drawing from the Holckam Hall Collection (ibidem, no 13D, sold at Christie's Paris, Wednesday, March 22.3.2017, Lot 99), both datable around 1715, at the early stage of the artist´s Roman soujour.