The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 29, 2024

Bacchus and Ariadne

Bacchus and Ariadne

1808–11
(British, 1755–1834)

after Titian

(Italian, c. 1488–1576)
Unframed: 40.5 x 46 cm (15 15/16 x 18 1/8 in.)

Did You Know?

Henry Bone was known for his enamel paintings created through a laborious process of fusing painted glass to copper and firing at controlled temperatures.

Description


Henry Bone devoted three years to creating this work, a tremendous technical achievement and the largest enamel on copper that had ever been made. The painstaking process required each application of color to be fired at a different temperature in the kiln. The enamel exactly reproduces Titian’s Bacchus and Ariadne (now in the National Gallery, London), an early sixteenth-century Italian masterpiece that had recently come into an English collection. The elaborate carved and gilded wood frame was specially designed for the work, an indication of the cultural value placed on great enamel reproductions of famous paintings.

Bone was unable to show his masterwork at the annual Royal Academy exhibition in 1811 because the Prince of Wales had asked to see it. When the prince decided not to purchase it, Bone issued more than 4,000 tickets for visitors to view the work in his studio.
  • Neale, John Preston. Jones' Views of the Seats, Mansions, Castles, &C. of Noblemen and Gentlemen in England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland, and Other Picturesque Scenery: Accompanied with Historical Descriptions of the Mansions, Lists of Pictures, Statues, &C. and Genealogical Sketches of the Families and Their Possessors : Forming Part of the General Series of Jones' Great Britain Illustrated. London, United Kingdom: Jones & Co, 1829.
    The Annual Biography and Obituary for the Year 1934-1835 XX (1836): 40-49. Mentioned: p. 45
    Essex, Alfred. "Some Account of the Art of Painting in Enamel." The London and Edinburgh Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science X (1837): 442-453. Mentioned: p. 453
    Rogers, J. Jope. "Notice of Henry Bone, RA, and His Works, Together with Those of His Son, Henry Pierce Bone, and Other Members of the Family." Journal of the Royal Institution of Cornwall VI, no. XXII (1880): 287-318. Mentioned: p. 292
    Propert, John Lumsden. A History of Miniature Art. With Notes on Collectors and Collections. London, United Kingdom: Macmillan and Co, 1887. Reproduced: p. 121
    Williamson, George Charles, and Howard Coppuck Levis. Portrait Miniatures: From the Time of Holbein 1531 to That of Sir William Ross 1860 : a Handbook for Collectors. London, United Kingdom: G. Bell, 1897. Reproduced: p. 112
    Foster, J. J., and Howard Coppuck Levis. British Miniature Painters and Their Works. London: S. Low, Marston & Company, Limited, 1898. Mentioned: p. 63
    Heath, Dudley, and Howard Coppuck Levis. Miniatures. London: Methuen and Co, 1905. Mentioned: p. 289
    Clouzot, Henri. Dictionnaire des miniaturistes sur émail. Paris, France: A. Morancé, 1924. Mentioned: p. 30
    Hand, Sidney. Signed Miniatures. London, United Kingdom: S. Hand, 1924. Mentioned: p. 13
    Foster, J. J., and Ethel M. Foster. A Dictionary of Painters of Miniatures (1525-1850) With Some Account of Exhibitions, Collections, Sales, Etc., Pertaining to Them. London, United Kingdom: P. Allan, 1926. Reproduced: p. 27-28
    Long, Basil S. British Miniaturists. London, United Kingdom: Geoffrey Bles, 1929. Reproduced: p. 37
    Reynolds, Graham. English Portrait Miniatures. London, United Kingdom: A. & C. Black, 1952. Reproduced: p. 151
    Schidlof, Leo R. The Miniature in Europe in the 16th, 17th, 18th, and 19th Centuries. Graz, Austria: Akademische Druck- u. Verlagsanstalt, 1964. Reproduced: p. 93, vol. 1
    Foskett, Daphne. A Dictionary of British Miniature Painters. London, United Kingdom: Faber and Faber, 1972. Reproduced: p. 171, vol. 1
    Farington, Joseph, Kenneth Garlick, Angus D. Macintyre, and Kathryn Cave. The Diary of Joseph Farington. New Haven, CT: Published for the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art by Yale University Press, 1978. Mentioned: vol. XI, 3854, 3922, 3932
    Foskett, Daphne. Miniatures: Dictionary and Guide. Woodbridge, Suffolk, United Kingdom: Antique Collectors' Club, 1987. Reproduced: p. 195
    Speel, Erika. Dictionary of Enamelling. Aldershot, Hants, United Kingdom: Ashgate, 1998. Reproduced: p. 13
    Walker, Richard. "Henry Bone's Pencil Drawings in the National Portrait Gallery." The Volume of the Walpole Society 61 (1999): 305-67. Mentioned: p. 306, 359; reproduced: fig. 188 www.jstor.org
    Coffin, Sara, and Bodo Hofstetter. Portrait Miniatures in Enamel. London, United Kingdom: Philip Wilson Publishers in association with the Gilbert Collection, 2000. Reproduced: p. 9
    Mazzocca, Fernando, and Sergio Rebora. Capolavori in smalto e avorio: Pietro Bagatti Valsecchi e la miniatura d'après. Cinisello Balsamo, Milano, Italy: Silvana, 2004. Reproduced: p. 33
    Speel, Erika. Painted Enamels: An Illustrated Survey 1500-1920. Aldershot, Hampshire, United Kingdom: Lund Humphries, 2008. Reproduced: p. 114, fig. 28
    Williams, Haydn, and Julia Clarke. Enamels of the World, 1700-2000: The Khalili Collections. London, United Kingdom: Khalili Family Trust, 2009. Reproduced: p. 272
    Arturi Phillips, Carmela, and Roger Arturi Phillips. The Arturi Phillips Collection: A Catalogue of Portrait Miniatures Dating from 1588 to 2004. [Place of publication not identified]: Portrait Miniature Club, 2010. Reproduced: p. 272
    Duffy, Stephen, and Christoph Martin Vogtherr. Miniatures in the Wallace Collection. London, United Kingdom: Wallace Collection, 2010. Reproduced: p. 158
  • British Gallery Reinstallation (June 2020). The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer).
  • {{cite web|title=Bacchus and Ariadne|url=false|author=Henry Bone, Titian|year=1808–11|access-date=29 March 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2013.51