A Queen's Picture

Two nude young bacchantes dance on a sandy
surface, with a horizon of blue ocean and cloudy
sky behind them. One plays the flute while the
other is accompanying him on the tambourine. In
the background Silenus arrives astride a donkey,
supported by two putti.
Based on the surviving evidence – both painted
and engraved – it is safe to identify this painting as
the far right portion of Guido Reni’s large painting,
The Marriage of Bacchus and Ariadne, a highly
celebrated work which was unfortunately subject to
partial destruction. 1
1 See Giovanni Battista Bolognini’s engraving of Bacchus and Arianne on the Island of Naxos (after 1640) in the Museo
dell’Accademia Carrara in Bergamo [fig. 1]