Ariadne was the daughter of the King of Minos. When Theseus came to try to slay the terrifying beast, the Minotaur, at the centre of the Labyrinth, it was Ariadne who gave him the ball of string with which he found his way back out of the maze.  After killing the Minotaur, Theseus took Ariadne with him, to the island of Naxos. There Ariadne slept, awaking to find that Theseus had abandoned her on the shore and sailed away.  She gave way to a torrent of tears and recriminations, and is normally pictured during this frenzy. But Evelyn shows her after the storm has subsided, as she sits in despair on the forlorn shore. Behind her is a desolate expanse of sea and land.  (She was later consoled by the arrival of Dionysus, a human son of the god Zeus, whom she subsequently married.)