Conservation Treatment of Tiepolo’s “Bacchus and Ariadne” Reveals Hidden Details

Following a four-year-long conservation treatment, Giovanni Battista Tiepolo's "Bacchus and Ariadne" (c. 1743/1745) will return to public view in the West Building of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, on June 14, 2018. The comprehensive restoration has revealed elements by the Venetian master hidden from view since the work was removed from its original location at the end of the 18th century. The dramatic results provide viewers with a new sense of the immense painting's appearance at the time of its creation.

"The conservation of this remarkable work reveals significant discoveries about Tiepolo's process and clues to the painting's original home," said Earl A. Powell III, director, National Gallery of Art. "This project also represents one of the many instances of rich collaboration between the Gallery's team of conservators, scientists, and curators, all leaders in their field."

"Bacchus and Ariadne" is believed to have been created to decorate the staircase of an unknown Venetian palace, only identified in a (now-lost) letter from 1764 by Tiepolo as the palace of "V.E." The painting was probably one of four works—only three of which are known to survive—that each depicted a natural element. "Bacchus and Ariadne" represents earth, "The Triumph of Amphitrite" (Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Dresden) represents water, and "Juno and Luna" (Sarah Campbell Blaffer Foundation, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston) represents air. The location of the fourth painting—which likely depicted Vulcan, the god of fire, and his wife, Venus—is unknown. A smaller example by Tiepolo of the same subject at the Philadelphia Museum of Art does, however, give a sense of what the painting may have looked like. All three of the extant paintings are connected by similar architectural motifs that would have tied them to their original locations, such as stone volutes at the top corners and long-necked, griffin-like forms in the bottom left and right corners. These architectural elements were likely painted over when the works were removed from their original setting, which according to curatorial records was done by 1798.

Treatment Details

The project's painting conservator, Sarah Gowen Murray, worked closely with colleagues in painting conservation, scientific research, and preventive conservation to treat the painting and conduct analysis of the work. Overpaint removal uncovered tall vertical leaves on the left and right sides of the composition. Infrared imaging—conducted by John Delaney, senior imaging scientist—and analysis of cross-section samples of those areas—examined and interpreted by Barbara Berrie, head of the scientific research department—indicated that the leaves were originally bound together by gold ribbons. A precedent for the ribbons was established in another work by Tiepolo, "Castigo dei Serpenti (The Scourge of the Snakes)" (1732–1735) at the Gallerie dell'Accademia in Venice. These findings, archived documentation images, and other works by the artist were then consulted to reconstruct the missing elements with inpainting.

Other discoveries made during the treatment include indications of significant compositional changes made by Tiepolo, suggesting that "Bacchus and Ariadne" may have been the first painting of the series. X-radiographs exposed curved forms at the lower-right corner extending beneath the griffin and the jaguar—perhaps initial attempts by the artist to incorporate the composition into the work's surrounding architecture.