Ariadne

Asher Brown Durand

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Before he became a painter, Durand was considered the foremost engraver in the United States. His usual procedure was to start by making a copy in oils of the work to be engraved that was equal in size to the intended print. "Ariadne" is one such copy, made after a large history painting by John Vanderlyn (Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia). Ariadne was a Cretan princess briefly loved by Theseus. He abandoned her, however, on the island of Naxos, and she is shown here in her desolation. Durand’s copy modified Vanderlyn’s crisp Neoclassicism, infusing it with a romantic softness and compensating for prudish American tastes by rendering the drapery opaque.

The American Wing

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The American Wing's ever-evolving collection comprises some 20,000 works of art by African American, Euro American, Latin American, and Native American men and women. Ranging from the colonial to early-modern periods, the holdings include painting, sculpture, works on paper, and decorative arts—including furniture, textiles, ceramics, glass, silver, metalwork, jewelry, basketry, quill and bead embroidery—as well as historical interiors and architectural fragments.

Metropolitan Museum of Art