Diana and Acteon

Diana and Acteon

Title

Diana and Acteon

[Exhib. Cat. Rome 2010, no. 40]

Painting on wood

Medium

Painting on wood

[Exhib. Cat. Tokyo 2016, no. 58]

After a long and strenuous hunting party Actaeon, grandson of Cadmus, king of Thebes, roamed through the woods until he reached, inadvertently, a grove that was sacred to Diana, goddess of the hunt. It was here that she used to bathe, in the company of her nymphs. Being caught unclad

After a long and strenuous hunting party Actaeon, grandson of Cadmus, king of Thebes, roamed through the woods until he reached, inadvertently, a grove that was sacred to Diana, goddess of the hunt. It was here that she used to bathe, in the company of her nymphs. Being caught unclad by Actaeon; the goddess threw a handful of water at the young hunter, transforming him into a deer. Actaeon's own hounds now turned upon their master, not recognizing him and killing him as they were trained to do with game.

The story, as told by Ovid, Metamorphoses (III, 157-252) enjoyed a considerable popularity among Renaissance painters. [...]

Cranach chose to depict both the hunt, in the background, and the subsequent dramatic confrontation between Actaeon and Diana in one scene. In the foreground, Diana is throwing water at the hunter who is already half transformed into a deer and savagely attacked by two dogs. But the main attractions of the painting are the puppet-like goddess and her nymphs, a cortège of female nudes, elegantly gesturing in the semicircular pool.

[Exhib. Cat. Rome 2010, 252, No. 40]

Attribution
Lucas Cranach the Younger

Attribution

Lucas Cranach the Younger

[Exhib. Cat. Tokyo 2016, no. 58]
[Friedländer, Rosenberg 1979, no. 409D]

Production date
about 1550

Production date

about 1550

[Exhib. Cat. Tokyo 2016, no. 58]

Dimensions
Dimensions of support: 65 x 43.5 cm

Dimensions

  • Dimensions of support: 65 x 43.5 cm

  • [Exhib. Cat. Tokyo 2016, no. 58]

Signature / Dating

None

Owner
Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica, Trieste
Repository
Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica, Trieste
Location
Trieste
CDA ID
IT_GNAAT_18
FR (1978) Nr.
FR409D
Persistent Link
https://lucascranach.org/en/IT_GNAAT_18/

Provenance

  • Trieste, Collection Conte Segré-Sartorio
    [Friedländer, Rosenberg 1979, no. 409D]
  • acquired by the Italian State in 1977
    [Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica di Trieste, 2015]

Exhibitions

Rome 2011, no. 40
Tokyo/Osaka 2016/17, no. 58

Literature

Reference on page Catalogue Number Figure / Plate
Exhib. Cat. Tokyo 2016 156-157 058
EditorGuido Messling, Atsushi Shinfuji
TitleLucas Cranach the Elder. 500 Years of the power of Tempation. [National Museum of Western Art,Tokyo; National Museum, Osaka, Japan]
Place of PublicationTokyo
Year of Publication2016
Exhib. Cat. Rome 2010 252-253 40
EditorGalleria Borghese, Rome, Anna Coliva, Bernard Aikema
TitleCranach. L'altro rinascimento / a different renaissance, [Rome, Galleria Borghese 15 ottobre 2010 - 13 febbraio 2011]
Place of PublicationMilan
Year of Publication2010
Friedländer, Rosenberg 1979 409D
AuthorMax J. Friedländer, Jakob Rosenberg
EditorG. Schwartz
TitleDie Gemälde von Lucas Cranach
Place of PublicationBasel, Boston, Stuttgart
Year of Publication1979
Friedländer, Rosenberg 1932 329d
AuthorMax J. Friedländer, Jakob Rosenberg
TitleDie Gemälde von Lucas Cranach
Place of PublicationBerlin
Year of Publication1932
Link http://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit/friedlaender1932

Research History / Discussion

The picture in Trieste is one of a small group of works by Cranach representing the subject of Diana and Actaeon, all based on the same compositional principle (cf. FR409E, 410). The composition shows how this successful invention was repeated in a professional way by the master’s workshop during the later years of his career. Friedländer and Rosenberg consider the picture likely to be by Lucas Cranach the Younger.

[Exhib. Cat. Rome 2010, 252, No. 40]

  • Diana and Acteon, about 1550

Images

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Citing from the Cranach Digital Archive

Entry with author
<author's name>, 'Diana and Acteon', <title of document, data entry or image>. [<Date of document or image>], in: Cranach Digital Archive, https://lucascranach.org/en/IT_GNAAT_18/ (Accessed {{dateAccessed}})
Entry with no author
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