Vico worked in Rome in the early 1540’s, briefly in Florence in the mid 1540’s before settling in Venice in 1546. In 1561 he returned to Rome before being summoned to the court of Duke Alfonso d’Este II, in Ferrara.

This image is sometimes said to be after an ancient relief sculpture, rather than after Raphael. Similar lions are found on several Roman sarcophagi. But Raphael could equally have been inspired by antique sculpture.

The Duke of Ferrara had extracted promises from Michelangelo and Raphael to contribute to the decoration of his private apartments. In 1517 Raphael submitted a compositional drawing for the Triumph of Bacchus in India, an uncommon subject, celebrating the legend that the god of wine returned from his ‘conquest’ of India like a triumphant general, with exotic elephants in his train.

That drawing was perhaps seen by Vico in Ferrara and inspired his engraving. Ariadne, after having helped him escape her father’s Labyrinth on Crete, had been abandoned by Theseus on the island of Naxos. She was consoled by Bacchus and they married. In Vico’s engraving they ride together in a chariot at the far right.

Trimmed to or just inside the plate. Laid paper, watermark not clear. Pale central stain and various small repaired tears at the edges. One small thin patch on a camel’s neck and other small defects.