[Illustration: BACCHUS AND ARIADNE.
_Titian_.]




BACCHUS AND ARIADNE

(_TITIAN_)

EDWARD T. COOK


But though as yet half unconscious, Ariadne is already under her fated
star: for above is the constellation of Ariadne's crown--the crown with
which Bacchus presented his bride. And observe in connection with the
astronomical side of the allegory the figure in Bacchus's train with the
serpent round him: this is the serpent-bearer (Milton's "Ophiuchus
huge") translated to the skies with Bacchus and Ariadne. Notice too
another piece of poetry: the marriage of Bacchus and Ariadne took place
in the spring, Ariadne herself being the personification of its return,
and Bacchus of its gladness; hence the flowers in the foreground which
deck his path.

The picture is as full of the painter's art as of the poet's. Note first
the exquisite painting of the vine leaves, and of these flowers in the
foreground, as an instance of the "constant habit of the great masters
to render every detail of their foreground with the most laborious
botanical fidelity." "The foreground is occupied with the common blue