European Painting and Sculpture

NICOLAS DE LARGILLIÈRE
(French, 1656-1746)

Mlle Duclos as Ariadne, about 1712
Oil on canvas
Purchased by the Mrs. Blakemore Wheeler Fund 1966.15
Conservation funded in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, a Federal agency.

Marie-Anne de Châteauneuf, called Mademoiselle Duclos, was one of the most famous actresses of the Comédie Française in Paris. She made her debut on the stage in 1693 and retired in 1746. Here Mademoiselle Duclos is depicted in her favorite role as Ariadne from the play of that name by Thomas Corneille (1625-1709). In this story from Greek mythology, Ariadne, daughter of King Minos of Crete, helped her lover Theseus escape from the labyrinth using a ball of string to find the way. Theseus later abandoned her on the island of Naxos, where Bacchus, the god of wine, found and married her. Mademoiselle Duclos as Ariadne is depicted at the painful moment of her abandonment by Theseus, whose ship sails away in the distance. Bacchus and his retinue can be seen approaching on the right. In the sky Cupid places a ring of stars above Ariadne’s head, a reference to Ariadne’s crown, which Bacchus tossed into the heavens to become a constellation. With his other hand Cupid holds a mask of tragedy and a poet’s crown of laurels.