Titian’s Bacchus and His Two Loves

Abstract

Titian\u27s Bacchus and Ariadne represents not only Bacchus\u27 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\u27s 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\u27s inclusion of the Ampelos myth was Nonnos\u27 Dionysiaca. Guided by Nonnos\u27 text, Titian alludes not only to Bacchus\u27 love for Ampelos, but to the boy\u27s transformation into a grapevine. His metamorphosis prompted Bacchus\u27 discovery of wine, which precipitated his identity as the god of wine, hence his prominent position in the painting. Titian\u27s portrayal of Bacchus\u27 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