17 Jun 2008
13:00 BST
London, Knightsbridge
British, Continental and Old Master Paintings
Back to auction 15800
British, Continental and Old Master Paintings
Back to auction 15800
After Guido Reni
Bacchus and Ariadne on the Island of Naxos; Aurora, a pair
watercolour and gouache on paper, laid down on canvas
each 49.5 x 87.4cm (19 1/2 x 34 7/16in), (2).
watercolour and gouache on paper, laid down on canvas
each 49.5 x 87.4cm (19 1/2 x 34 7/16in), (2).
Sold for
£1,080
inc. premium
Footnotes
- Guido Renis lost painting of Bacchus and Ariadne on the Island of Naxos was originally commissioned by Queen Henrietta Maria in 1637, who requested a mythological scene to decorate the ceiling of her bedroom in the Queens House, Greenwich. It depicts the marriage of Bacchus and Ariadne, accompanied by Venus, Cupid, fauns and putti. The Queen was never to see the work however, as the final composition was considered inappropriate for England's increasingly Puritanical climate.
Upon the dispersal of the English Royal Collection the painting came into the possession of Michel Particelli d'Emery, an Italian financier. Upon his death in 1650 his widow ordered her servants to cut up and set fire to the work because she thought it so lascivious.
Category: Fine Art / Pictures
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