(Chur 1741–1807 Rome)
Theseus and Ariadne,
signed lower centre: Angelica ...mann,
oil on canvas, 95 x 80 cm, framed

Provenance:
Collection of Count Pedro Eugénio Daupiás (1818–1900), Lisbon (according to a label on the reverse, with inv. no. 51, as Ecole ancienne);
with Galerie Koller, Lucerne;
with Eric Turquin, Paris (April 1994);
Private collection, Vienna;
sale, Dorotheum, Vienna, 1 October 2003, lot 220;
Private collection, Austria

Exhibited:
Angelika Kauffmann – Unbekannte Schätze aus Vorarlberger Privatsammlungen, Kulturstiftung Dessau-Wörlitz, Haus der Fürstin, 7 July – 21 October 2018; Bregenz, Vorarlberg Museum, 15 June – 6 October 2019

Literature:
Angelika Kauffmann – Unbekannte Schätze aus Vorarlberger Privatsammlungen, exhibition catalogue, Kulturstiftung Dessau, Wörlitz 2018, vorarlberg museum, Bregenz 2019, pp. 180/81

Bettina Baumgärtel confirmed the present painting as an autograph work by Angelika Kauffmann (written certificate, 2002).

Bettina Baumgärtel in the catalogue of the Kauffmann exhibition of 2018/19 writes: ‘Transmitted by Homer and the eighteenth-century translation of his work by Voss, and particularly through Ovid’s Heroides, the theme of Ariadne has been treated innumerable times in the visual arts and in literature, until well into the twentieth century. Here Kauffmann describes the fateful moment in which the enamoured Ariadne presents the ball of wool to Theseus. The couple has climbed down to the dark dungeon, before entering the maze. His facial expression and gestures betray how attentively he listens to the advice of his lover, who hands over to him the thread of red wool. Angelika Kauffmann chose a scene here that, as far as we know, was not dealt with a second time in eighteenth-century painting. As was often the case, the erudite artist drew her inspirations from antique writings, feeling particularly interested in the intelligent and bold deeds of heroines. She focused on them time and again as the true protagonists of important turning points in history. They were primarily women in love, such as Ariadne or Eleonora, who took fate into their own hands and became rescuers of beloved men. The scene is convincing for its sober composition and is another proof of Kauffmann’s early Classicist training. No superfluous detail distracts our attention from the crucial moment.’