In the painting "Ariadne", by Arthur Streeton, why are the sails of the ship white?
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Accepted answer
According to the common version of the myth, Theseus left her in Naxos. He probably sailed more than one day from Naxos to Athens, with stops on his way. So this is not his final leg which is shown in the picture. In those time sailing at night was unusual. They tried to spend nights on the shore, which was possible in most cases because of the abundance of islands.
The picture has some other major inconsistencies with the myth. The boat was evidently painted by the artist as he saw it: it is a contemporary boat (18-20 century) since it has fore-and-aft rig, probably the gaff rig with a jib. All these are recent inventions. The Greeks used only square rig.
Also the boat sails to the right in the picture, which is opposite to the direction of the open sea, so it seems to be returning from a trip rather than departing. (Unless the land that we see at the horizon is another island).
I suppose the painter painted the landscape as he saw it, the boat included, and then simply added the Ariadne's figure, without much thinking.
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