The Moon. Diana with the Sign of Cancer
XVI century. Oil on canvas.Not on display
In the foreground, Diana holds a bow in her left hand while extracting an arrow from her quiver with the right. The moon appears over her forehead, and behind her, a fragment of the Zodiac includes the sign of Cancer. Sitting at the top, a winged figure gazes toward the heavens.
This painting and its companions (P306 to P312) are copies of cartoons for the mosaics at the Chigi Chapel in the Roman church of Santa Maria del Popolo. Those cartoons were made by Raphael and the mosaics, by Alvise della Pace in 1516.
The paintings are from the royal collections and were brought to Spain by Rubens in 1603 as gifts from the Duke of Mantua to the Duke of Lerma. They were part of the decoration of Philip IV´s Salón Planetario (Planetary Hall) at the Buen Retiro Palace.
