Bacchus and Ariadne
Titian (Tiziano Vecellio) (1488 to 1576), 1520–1523
No print size passed the check for this piece: at 10 x 8 in, Wrong shape: a 12% crop. We would rather show it than sell a soft print.
See pieces like it you can buyAbandoned on Naxos, Ariadne turns at the noise of an approaching revel — and Bacchus, seeing her, throws himself out of his leopard-drawn chariot in mid-leap, cloak flying, caught by Titian at the instant before he lands. Nothing in earlier painting moves like this. Behind him the drunken rout tumbles in with cymbals and snakes; above her, the crown of stars she will become. The blue is ultramarine of a purity that still stops people in the room, set against Bacchus’s scarlet. Love at first sight, painted as an actual event in the air, five hundred years ago.
- Maker
- Titian (Tiziano Vecellio) (1488 to 1576)
- Date
- 1520–1523
- Medium of the original
- Painting
- Original held by
- The National Gallery, London
- Credit
- The National Gallery, London · via Wikimedia Commons
- Rights
- Public domain, verified
- Catalogue number
- PA-00627
Before a size goes on sale, the file is measured against it: pixels per inch at that size, how much of the picture a crop would lose, tone and sharpness. A size that fails is not offered, so there is nothing to choose wrong.
| Size | Why |
|---|---|
| 10 x 8 in | Wrong shape: a 12% crop |
| 12 x 8 in | Wrong shape: a 26% crop |
| 14 x 11 in | Wrong shape: a 13% crop |
| 16 x 12 in | Wrong shape: a 17% crop |
| 18 x 12 in | Wrong shape: a 26% crop |
| 20 x 16 in | Wrong shape: a 12% crop |
| 24 x 16 in | Wrong shape: a 26% crop |
| 24 x 18 in | Wrong shape: a 17% crop |
| 30 x 20 in | Wrong shape: a 26% crop |
| 30 x 24 in | Wrong shape: a 12% crop |
| 36 x 24 in | Wrong shape: a 26% crop |
| 40 x 30 in | Wrong shape: a 17% crop |
| 48 x 36 in | Wrong shape: a 17% crop |
| 60 x 40 in | Wrong shape: a 26% crop |
- Scanned
- 2026-10-07
- Master file
- 4,670 x 4,226 px, srgb
- Tone
- Darks 31, lights 168 of 255; 0% clipped light, 0% clipped dark
- Colour
- 0% vivid
- Sharpness
- 19.3
The Old Masters
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