Titian's Bacchus and his two loves

Abstract

Titian's Bacchus and Ariadne represents not only Bacchus' attraction to Ariadne, as has long been recognized, but also his infatuation with a boy‐satyr, Ampelos, who struts at the centre of the composition. The little satyr's identity, recognized in the seventeenth century, but overlooked by modern scholars, is confirmed by newly revealed pentimenti. Titian was probably the first to embed this homoerotic love story in a painting depicting the Bacchus and Ariadne myth. The textual impetus for Titian's inclusion of the Ampelos myth was Nonnos' Dionysiaca. Guided by Nonnos' text, Titian alludes not only to Bacchus' love for Ampelos, but to the boy's transformation into a grapevine. His metamorphosis prompted Bacchus' discovery of wine, which precipitated his identity as the god of wine, hence his prominent position in the painting. Titian's portrayal of Bacchus' overwhelming ardour for the negligently dressed Ariadne, along with his former dalliance with the engaging, rosy‐cheeked boy‐satyr Ampelos, was never meant to represent celestial or marital love as has been claimed. Such an ennobling interpretation is disproved through an analysis of contemporary descriptions of the picture and its ancient literary sources.