Ariadne on the Panther (Ariadne auf dem Panther)

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The sculpture captures Ariadne, a Cretan princess, in a relaxed pose on a massive cat. Dannecker started working on this sculpture in 1803. By 1805, "Ariadne" had become one of his masterpieces while still standing in his studio. This sculpture conveys the concept of "wildness tamed by beauty," a motto that Dannecker allegedly created with his brother-in-law Heinrich Rapp. In 1810, the statue was sold to Frankfurt banker Simon Moritz von Bethmann (1768–1826), and it was put on display in the Odeon, Frankfurt's first public museum, in 1816. From 1856 onwards, it stood in a specially built "Ariadneum." According to Bethmann, there was a daily "positive pilgrimage" to see Dannecker's most famous work. In Greek mythology, Ariadne is the daughter of Pasiphae and King Minos of Crete. She fell in love with Athenian hero Theseus and helped him escape the Labyrinth after killing the Minotaur, a creature that was half bull and half man kept by Minos in the Labyrinth. The legends diverge here: she was either abandoned by Theseus and hanged herself or carried to Naxos by Theseus and left to die before being rescued by and married to god Dionysus.