Bacchus is shown arriving on the island of Naxos. With his train of Satyrs and putti bearing gifts, he stands in front of Ariadne, whose shoulder Cupid clasps. Venus, goddess of love, stands in the centre, introducing the couple.

This is one of seven original cartoons for the fresco decorations on the walls of a room in the Palazzo del Giardino at Parma. The ceiling of the room had already been frescoed by Agostino Carraci with scenes illustrative of the power of love, and Cignani’s compositions illustrate the same theme more widely. The whole theme of the series derives from that of the galleria frescoes of the Palazzo Farnese, Rome. The frescoes were begun in about 1678 and survive today, although they suffered damage in the Second World War. Cignani is recorded to have had collaborators on the frescoes; the cartoons, however, can be claimed as his own work. Joseph Smith certainly owned the cartoons by 1738, and probably as early as 1735. They are described in great detail by Abbate Gherardi in his anonymous ‘Descrizione’ (1749) and were engraved by Jean-Michel Liotard in the ‘Monochromata’ (1743).

The painting appears in Pyne's illustrated 'Royal Residences' of 1819, hanging in the Presence Chamber at Kensington Palace (RCIN 922150).