Sleeping Ariadne

A photograph of Sleeping Ariadne, a statue which is a Roman copy after a Hellenistic original (2nd century BC), now in the Vatican Museum.

This statue was purchased from Angelo Maffei in 1512 by Pope Julius II, who placed it in the Belvedere Courtyard, Vatican where it was used as decoration for a fountain. The figure was initially identified as Cleopatra because of the snake bracelet on the upper left arm, reminiscent of the asp that caused her death. At the end of the 18th century, Ennio Quirino Visconti recognised her as Ariadne, the princess who, after helping Theseus escaping from Minos' labyrinth, was left asleep on the island of Naxos, until the arrival of Dionysus.

Parker (see Bibliographic References), affirms that this statue was "the inspiration for Raphael's figure of Calliope of the Parnassus", painted in c.1510-11 in the Stanza della Segnatura, Vatican.