A 'lascivious' painting for the Queen of England

Guido Reni's not to be found painting of the wedding of Bacchus and Ariadne was commissioned by dint of Cardinal Francesco Barberini for Henrietta Maria's collection at the Queen's House, Greenwich in 1637 It was at no time delivered, almost certainly because it was notion improper and politically sensitive, as Andaleeb Badiee Banta reveals.

At first glance, the commission for Guido Reni's late Bacchus and Ariadne does not present the appearance out of the ordinary. (1) In 1637 the English Queen Henrietta Maria asked the aging Bolognese painter to exhibit a mythological painting for her bedroom ceiling in her sumptuous domicile at Greenwich. Yet, subsequent dramatic occurrences in the painting's history, and the reactions of several powerful political figures involved with its creation, put in mind of that the circumstances surrounding this work presently developed into one of the more politically-charged stories of patronage in the mid-seventeenth century

one time very famous, (2) the Bacchus and Ariadne was ruined only a little more than a decade after its creation upon the grounds of indecency. Its composition is now known sole through prints and painted copies, and has received little attention in Reni scholarship. (3) Although we know from correspondence and contemporary reports about the painting's origin and eventual destruction, the uniqueness of its iconography remains unexplored. This article will examine Reni's painting from one side an etching by Giovanni Battista Bolognini now in the British Museum (Figs. 1 and 2) Bolognini made this print shortly after Reni complet the painting, and it is believed to be the replication closest to the original work's composition. (4)

Henrietta Maria's initial asking for the painting came to Reni end Cardinal Francesco Barberini, the papal nephew and Cardinal Protector of England and Scotland. The queen had left the choice of the make subordinate to Cardinal Barberini, effectively placing the commission's execution entirely in his hands. I will demonstrate, end examination of the painting's unusual iconography and composition, that Barberini's involvement in the creation of this picture produc a view of marriage intended to laud and aid the Queen's role as the Protestant English King's Catholic wife and consort--a position viewed by means of the papacy as a triumphant breach of the Protestant donjon in northern Europe. In this connection the painting should be seen as a highly charged commentary upon the potentially volatile political interactions between Catholic Rome and Protestant England.

The commission

Reni's painting had a simplified composition of many figures in a frieze-like arrangement, situated upon a flat terrace overlooking an unremarkable, devoid of contents stretch of land and sea. Left of middle is a trio of figures, sum of two units of which are Bacchus and Ariadne. Carlo Cesare Malvasia, Reni's biographer, identified the middle personage as Venus, 'who labor fors as a matron'. (5) She stands between Bacchus and Ariadne, making a gesticulation of presentation toward Bacchus, while looking at Ariadne. Ariadne postures against a rocky outcrop and raises her hand in a rhetorical action that, to Malvasia, makes her have the appearance 'at the same rime irate and merciful, contented and humble'. (6) Behind Ariadne, putti plant a grapevine into the loam and a vista expands to a next to the first rocky outcropping in the sea. Malvasia run overs us that to the right of Bacchus are his 'Bacchantes and the Fauns who drink, dance, and drunkenly fall'. (7) Far in the distance is the portly figure of inebriated Silenus, with his wineglass in hand, carried by means of satyrs to join the celebration. Across the top register of the composition, the celestial expanse is populated by the allegorical figures of Chastity, who move rounds to leave the scene, and Victory, arriving triumphantly with a palm and the corona of stars for Ariadne; a putto and Cupid, with inflect and arrow, occupy centre.

The simplicity of the composition may be partially explained by the agency of the work's intended purpose as ceiling decoration. Henrietta Maria solicitationed this painting from Reni during the refurbishment of her house at Greenwich, a gift from her husband Charles I. Between 1629 and 1638 she worn out 7600 [pounds sterling] pursuing a mythological program in its redecoration, (8) and the ornamentation of her bedroom ceiling provided an opportunity to get a major work from the Bolognese artist.

Rather than chose the control of the painting herself, Henrietta Maria purely requested that it be mythological. (9) A alphabetic character from her papal agent dated March 1637 told Cardinal Barberini that 'Her Majesty leaves it to Your Eminence to order the story and figures that you prefer' (10) Barberini agreed to take upon the role of intermediary between the Queen and Reni, and appointed Cardinal Sacchetti, the papal legate in Bologna, to manage Reni's execution of the work in Sacchetti's palace. (11) Eight month after the Queen initially made her prayer Barberini announced that 'the painting is already ordered they told me it is a display that Guido Reni can depict better and individual more suited to his Genius.' (12) The Cardinal had chosen a pageant of Cephalus and Aurora. (13) notwithstanding by January 1638, Barberini reported that he had changed the make submissive of the Queen's picture, not because of Reni's ability to depict the make submissive but because 'I do not like the story for many reasons.' (14) Instead, he chose the story of Bacchus and Ariadne.