Ariadne, daughter of King Minos of Crete, helped the Greek hero Theseus escape from her father's infamous Labyrinth, but Theseus abandoned her soon after on the island of Naxos. She was rescued by Bacchus, god of wine, who is seen here rushing in from his ship. He honored her by flinging her crown up into the sky, where it became a constellation of stars. The figures in Eustache Le Sueur's paintings have a cool monumentality that suggests sculpture; the pose of Ariadne comes from ancient Roman sarcophagi, and that of Bacchus from the renowned classical statue, the Apollo Belvedere. Circa 1640, oil on canvas, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

The Vision of Constantine (1670) by Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598-1690).

The Birth of Venus is one of the most famous paintings by 19th-century painter William-Adolphe Bouguereau. It depicts not the actual birth of Venus from the sea, but her transportation in a shell as a fully mature woman from the sea to Paphos in Cyprus. She is considered the epitome of the Classical Greek and Roman ideal of the female form and beauty, on par with Venus de Milo.