Bacchus Finding Ariadne on Naxos
The god Bacchus, accompanied by a satyr with a torch, discovers the sleeping Ariadne and falls in love with the princess. It is hardly a coincidence that Cupid, the god of love, is seated in the foreground. De Vries was court sculptor to the eccentric Emperor Rudolf II, a lover of mildly erotic art. This relief was thus most likely made for the emperor or someone in the imperial household.