The Sleeping Ariadne

myminifactory

This work is a faithful reproduction of The Sleeping Ariadne, a Roman Hadrianic replica of a Hellenistic sculpture from the 2nd Century BC Pergamene school. The renowned Roman copy stands out as one of the most celebrated sculptures in Antiquity. The reclining figure draped in a chiton with her breasts bound by the garment is positioned half lying, half sitting, her extended legs crossed at the calves, her head resting on her left arm while her right arm is thrown over her head. Initially identified as Cleopatra due to the snake bracelet on her upper left arm, which was mistakenly taken for the asp that ended her life, a compelling narrative could be easily constructed. However, the work was later transmitted from Antiquity to the High Renaissance and later influenced painters and sculptors; Michelangelo drew inspiration from the sculpture's pose in his Night and Dawn allegories. Johann Joachim Winckelmann noted that the snake actually represented a serpentine-form bracelet and suggested that the sleeping figure had no reason to be called Cleopatra. He proposed that she was a sleeping nymph or a Venus instead. Ennio Quirino Visconti made a secure identification of the figure as Ariadne, based on similar motifs found in carved gems and sarcophagus reliefs. This work is a more modern adaptation of the Roman copy, selected by Primaticcio to be molded for plaster copies which were then cast in bronze for Francis I at the Chateau de Fontainebleau. In the process, the pose was slightly adjusted, and the sleeping nymph's limbs were gently lengthened to conform better with French Mannerist canons of female beauty. From the bronze at Fontainebleau numerous copies and reductions were made.