The painting depicts an episode from Ovid's Metamorphoses (XI, I, 43), which recounts the tragic death of Orpheus, torn apart by the Maenads. Orpheus is pinned to the ground by the Thracian women, deprived of his musical instrument, while Bacchus kills him by stabbing him with a trident. Provenance: Conti Merenda, Forlì.
D. Benati, Alessandro Tiarini. Complete Paintings and Drawings, Milan 2001, pp. 99–100, no. 166.
