DOI issue:
Nr. 4
DOI article:Murdzeńska, Maria: A mythological picture by Jacob Adriaensz Backer
DOI Page / Citation link: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.18818#0111
Maria Murdzeńska
A MYTHOLOGICAL PICTURE BY JACOB ADRIAENSZ BACKER
The National Museum in Warsaw has bought for its Gallery of the XYIIth century Dutch
Painting an interesting picture of a mythological theme.1 Ali that is known is that this work was
put on sale in Vienna in 1942 as an early work of Jacob Adriaensz Backer, a pupil and follower
of Rembrandt (fig. i).2
The scene represented in the picture is set in a landscape, on a steep slope covered with busbes
and with a big tree in the background. A frightened woman clutching her slipping veils in panie
turns away in a gesture of self defense from a stranger who is staring at her with an expression
of intense admiration on his face. The pair are represented as nudę figures. The vine wreaths on
the youth’s head and round his hips indicate that this is the god of winę — Bacchus. His partner
is undoubtedly Ariadnę, the princess of Crete abandoned while asleep by Theseus on the Isle of
Dia (Naxos). Bacchus returning triumphantly from India met Ariadnę on the Isle of Dia and
intoxicated with love took her up to wife. The crown, Yulcan’s work, which Ariadnę had obta-
ined from Venus was changed by Bacchus into stars and placed on the firmament where they
form a constellation called Corona Borealis.3 This story was described by Homer (Odyssey, XI,
321 ff.) and Hesiod (Theogonia, 947 ff.), Apollodorus Rhodios (3, 1001 ff.), Nonnos (Dionysiaca,
47, 265 ff.) and Catullus (Carmina, LXIV, 254 ff.). This theme was described in Philostratus’
famous Picture Gallery (Imagines, I, 15). However, Ovid was the author whose works were the
most common source of inspiration. One can find fragments referring to Bacchus and Ariadnę in
Metamorphoses (VIII, 175 ff.), Ars Amandi (I, 525 ff.), Fasti (III, 459 ff..), Heroides (X, 49).
Depending on the artist’s intention the poetical images were created according to yarious aspects
of the encounter: the moment of peeping at a sleeping woman; lively, dramatic scene of taking
by surprise; love scene and nuptials i. e. the triumph of the bridal pair.
The dramatic story of the princess of Crete was the framework of many theatre pieces in the
XVIIth century.4 This theme attracted in Holland the famous writer and playwright Hooft,
1. Canvas, 81x67,5 cm, inv. no.: 233180; the picture was already announced in: ”La Chronique des Arts ”, Supplement
a la Gazette des Beaux-Arts, no 1213, 1970, no 540, p. 122 and by J. Michałkowa, ”Nouvelles acquisitions du Departement
de la Peinture Europeenne 1963 —1969”, Bulletin du Musee National de Varsovie, XI, 1970, no 2 — 3, p.30 — 33.
2. See M. J. Binder [in:] 478, Kunstauktion, Dorolheum, Wien, 6 und 7 Oktober 1942, p. 3, nr 4, fig. 17. The last owner of the
picture provided a certificate signed M. J. Friedlander stating that the picture is gans richtig J. A. Backer and eines der
besten Werken dieses holldndischen Meisters. A monograph written by K. Bauch, Jakob Adriaensz Backer. Ein Rembrandt-
schiiler aus Friesland, Berlin, 1926 is still indispensable. New facts concerning Backer’s biography were discovered and publi-
shed by H. F. Wijnman,”De afkomst van Jacob en Adriaan Backer”, Oud Holland, XLIII, 1926, p. 289 — 292; ”De Schildei
Jacob Backer te Amsterdam”, Oud Holland, LI, 1934, p. 135 — 136.
3. On the Ariadnę myth cf. Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Altertumwissenschaft, IX, Stuttgart, 1903, s. v. Dionysos,
cols. 1010 —1046, see also Ariadnę by II. von Giesau [in:] Der kleine Pauly, I, Stuttgart, 1964, cols. 543 — 545.
4. In the XVIth c. a lyrical drama by Rinucci was illustrated in musie by Claudio Monteverdi to commemorate the wedding
of Francesco Gonzaga and Margareta of Savoy. This famous Arianna on Naxos is a parallel to representations of the subject
on bridal cassoni (cf. P. Schubring, Cassoni, [n.p.] 1915, II, pl. CLXIII, LXXXIX, CXX). In the XVIIth c. a tragedy
by Thomas Corneille (1672) and two operas by de Cambert and Marais prove the inereasing popularity of the theme
towards the XVIIIth c.
97
A MYTHOLOGICAL PICTURE BY JACOB ADRIAENSZ BACKER
The National Museum in Warsaw has bought for its Gallery of the XYIIth century Dutch
Painting an interesting picture of a mythological theme.1 Ali that is known is that this work was
put on sale in Vienna in 1942 as an early work of Jacob Adriaensz Backer, a pupil and follower
of Rembrandt (fig. i).2
The scene represented in the picture is set in a landscape, on a steep slope covered with busbes
and with a big tree in the background. A frightened woman clutching her slipping veils in panie
turns away in a gesture of self defense from a stranger who is staring at her with an expression
of intense admiration on his face. The pair are represented as nudę figures. The vine wreaths on
the youth’s head and round his hips indicate that this is the god of winę — Bacchus. His partner
is undoubtedly Ariadnę, the princess of Crete abandoned while asleep by Theseus on the Isle of
Dia (Naxos). Bacchus returning triumphantly from India met Ariadnę on the Isle of Dia and
intoxicated with love took her up to wife. The crown, Yulcan’s work, which Ariadnę had obta-
ined from Venus was changed by Bacchus into stars and placed on the firmament where they
form a constellation called Corona Borealis.3 This story was described by Homer (Odyssey, XI,
321 ff.) and Hesiod (Theogonia, 947 ff.), Apollodorus Rhodios (3, 1001 ff.), Nonnos (Dionysiaca,
47, 265 ff.) and Catullus (Carmina, LXIV, 254 ff.). This theme was described in Philostratus’
famous Picture Gallery (Imagines, I, 15). However, Ovid was the author whose works were the
most common source of inspiration. One can find fragments referring to Bacchus and Ariadnę in
Metamorphoses (VIII, 175 ff.), Ars Amandi (I, 525 ff.), Fasti (III, 459 ff..), Heroides (X, 49).
Depending on the artist’s intention the poetical images were created according to yarious aspects
of the encounter: the moment of peeping at a sleeping woman; lively, dramatic scene of taking
by surprise; love scene and nuptials i. e. the triumph of the bridal pair.
The dramatic story of the princess of Crete was the framework of many theatre pieces in the
XVIIth century.4 This theme attracted in Holland the famous writer and playwright Hooft,
1. Canvas, 81x67,5 cm, inv. no.: 233180; the picture was already announced in: ”La Chronique des Arts ”, Supplement
a la Gazette des Beaux-Arts, no 1213, 1970, no 540, p. 122 and by J. Michałkowa, ”Nouvelles acquisitions du Departement
de la Peinture Europeenne 1963 —1969”, Bulletin du Musee National de Varsovie, XI, 1970, no 2 — 3, p.30 — 33.
2. See M. J. Binder [in:] 478, Kunstauktion, Dorolheum, Wien, 6 und 7 Oktober 1942, p. 3, nr 4, fig. 17. The last owner of the
picture provided a certificate signed M. J. Friedlander stating that the picture is gans richtig J. A. Backer and eines der
besten Werken dieses holldndischen Meisters. A monograph written by K. Bauch, Jakob Adriaensz Backer. Ein Rembrandt-
schiiler aus Friesland, Berlin, 1926 is still indispensable. New facts concerning Backer’s biography were discovered and publi-
shed by H. F. Wijnman,”De afkomst van Jacob en Adriaan Backer”, Oud Holland, XLIII, 1926, p. 289 — 292; ”De Schildei
Jacob Backer te Amsterdam”, Oud Holland, LI, 1934, p. 135 — 136.
3. On the Ariadnę myth cf. Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Altertumwissenschaft, IX, Stuttgart, 1903, s. v. Dionysos,
cols. 1010 —1046, see also Ariadnę by II. von Giesau [in:] Der kleine Pauly, I, Stuttgart, 1964, cols. 543 — 545.
4. In the XVIth c. a lyrical drama by Rinucci was illustrated in musie by Claudio Monteverdi to commemorate the wedding
of Francesco Gonzaga and Margareta of Savoy. This famous Arianna on Naxos is a parallel to representations of the subject
on bridal cassoni (cf. P. Schubring, Cassoni, [n.p.] 1915, II, pl. CLXIII, LXXXIX, CXX). In the XVIIth c. a tragedy
by Thomas Corneille (1672) and two operas by de Cambert and Marais prove the inereasing popularity of the theme
towards the XVIIIth c.
97