Bacchus, seated in a landscape, holds up a dish of wine, while Ariadne, whom he rescued after she was abandoned by Theseus, is seated on clouds. Like other Venetian painters Giovanni Antonio Pellegrini travelled to Britain to work on large scale decorative commissions. His airy exuberant style was much admired. These two paintings belong to a set of fourteen works later acquired by Frederick, Prince of Wales (1707–1751).