the center panel, the Triumph of Bacchus and Ariadne depicts a both riotous and classically restrained procession which ferries Bacchus and Ariadne to their lovers' bed. Here, the underlying myth is that Bacchus, the god of wine, had gained the love of the abandoned princess, Ariadne. The procession recalls the triumphs of the Republican and Imperial Roman era, in which the parades of victorious leaders had the laurel-crowned ‘imperator’ in a white chariot with two white horses. In Carracci's procession, the two lovers are seated in chariots drawn by tigers and goats, and accompanied by a parade of nymphs, bacchanti, and trumpeting satyrs. At the fore, Bacchus' tutor, the paunchy, ugly, and leering drunk Silenus, rides an ass. The figures carefully cavort in order to hide most naked male genitals. The program refers to Ovid's Metamorphoses (VIII; lines 160-182) and the spirit alludes to contemporary images voiced, for example, in a carnival song-poem written by Lorenzo de Medici in about 1475, that entreats: {| style="width: 490px;" |- style="vertical-align: top;" | style="width: 46%;" | Quest’è Bacco ed Arïanna, belli, e l'un de l'altro ardenti: perché ’l tempo fugge e inganna, sempre insieme stan contenti. Queste ninfe ed altre genti sono allegre tuttavia. Chi vuol esser lieto, sia: di doman non c’è certezza. | style="width: 54%;" | Here are Bacchus and Ariadne, Handsome, and burning for each other: Because time flees and fools, They stay together always content. These nymphs and those others Are ever full of joy. Let those who wish to be happy, be: Of tomorrow, we have no certainty. |} Additional scenes Scenes on the walls Legacy Annibale Carracci's decorations in the Farnese Gallery demonstrated a new grand manner of monumental fresco painting. They exerted a powerful formative influence on both canvas and fresco painting in Rome during the seventeenth century. The dual classicizing and baroque tendencies in this work would fuel the debate by the next generation of fresco painters, between Sacchi and Pietro da Cortona, over the number of figures to be included in a painting. Carracci's treatment of the composition and the disposition and expression of the figures would influence painters such as Sacchi and Poussin, whereas his effervescent narrative manner influenced Cortona. Annibale Carracci, in his day, was seen as one of the key painters to revive the classical style. In contrast, a few years later, artists such as Caravaggio and his followers would rebel