Favourite Paintings: 'Bacchus and Ariadne' by Titian

'Bacchus and Ariadne' by Titian is a large painting in the National Gallery in London that I've seen many times. It tells the tale of when Bacchus first saw Ariadne and fell in love with her and he leaps from his chariot as his party chums come lumbering out of the forest after carousing all night. A small detail towards the back of the revellers shows Silenus, Bacchus's tutor, drunkenly riding on a donkey surrounded by satyrs. Ariadne is, understandably, terrified of this motley crew appearing out of nowhere. It's not every day that a naked god comes leaping off a chariot drawn by leopards in front of you.

We see satyrs waving raw haunches of venison in the air and a boy satyr dragging the deers' head along on the dirt to eat later. The dogs scavenging and the nakedness of the male characters while the females are in billowy clothes. They're all drunken and debauched and who knows what's been going on back in the dark woods. But here they are, in the bright light of morning after the night before, and their lord, Bacchus, has found a human female to love or lust after. What would you think if you saw this scene unfold in front of you? I think I'd be a trifle concerned to say the least.

Most of the woodland characters, the satyrs and dryads are in the shadows of the woods, but Bacchus and Ariadne are light skinned, under full sun, and clearly the focus of the painting. There's obviously a stiff breeze blowing to create the billows and shapes in their respective drapery. You'd think a god would be able to do something about that but no, he suffers the vagaries of the weather like anyone else. The books always go on about how there's a constellation of stars above Ariadne's head (top left) but I'm not too bothered about that detail - there's so much else going on in the painting.

I've known the painting for 42 years since a detail from it was the cover of the first big art book I ever had, a book about the National Gallery my mother bought for me from her book club. I lost that book many years ago but I managed to track down online a first edition from 1977 and it now sits with my other art books.

Titian's proper name is Tiziano Vecellio - I've no idea why we call him Titian in this country - and today is the anniversary of his death on 27 August 1576. 'Bacchus and Ariadne' was painted between 1520-23 and was bought by the National Gallery in 1826. It's inventory number is NG35, i.e. the 35th painting in the collection.