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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 c
After studying the canvas, the pigments, and the technique of this work as well as those of Diana and Callisto (P424), we can be sure that these paintings are 17th-century Spanish copies. This provides important insight into the Madrid style during Carreño and Rizi’s generation. The originals of these paintings were some of Titian’s masterpieces from his final years. They belonged to the ro
Hunting in the woods, Acteon stops on the banks of a stream when he sees Diana and her nymphs bathing nude on the opposite bank. Fascinated by their beauty, he observes them with a challenging and amused expression, unaware of the cost of his boldness. Indeed, the outcome will be tragic, as Diana, goddess of chastity, is furious at being seen in the nude by a mortal. She responds by transforming t
The scene here unfolds in the foreground, which is occupied by a large rocky outcrop and trees and on the right opens onto a luminous landscape enclosed by mountains in the background. The spatial transition between the dark foreground and luminous background is still somewhat awkward. In the figures the brushwork is smooth and uniform, giving the nudes a pearly appearance, whereas in the landscap
From the 1857 Inventory of the Royal Museum through 2002, this work was listed as Diana and Endymion Discovered by a Satyr, but L. Ruiz has demonstrated that the scene is Diana and a Nymph Discovered by a Satyr, as the figure sleeping alongside Diana is female. Her body, completely covered by a bluish tunic, and her pearl necklace in no way recall Endymion’s masculine appearance. The satyr was a n
When Rubens visited the Spanish court in Madrid from late August 1628 until April 1629, he copied many of the numerous paintings by Titian in the royal collection. He was seduced by the radical technique of broken brushstrokes characteristic of the late works of the Venetian, which inspired his own way of painting from this time until his death in 1640. He must also have been drawn by the emotiona
Until very recently there was total confusion as to the origin of this painting and the circumstances surrounding its entry into the Royal Collection. Its original owner was formerly thought to have been Cassiano dal Pozzo, an erudite Italian contemporary of Nicolas Poussin whose collection did, indeed, include a work with similar characteristics. Since 2005, however, the generally accepted hypoth
Proserpine, daughter of the earth goddess Ceres, was kidnapped by Pluto, the god of the underworld. Despite the resistance put up by Minerva, Venus and Diana, their relationship would blossom into love, as revealed by the presence of the cupids holding the chariot reigns and urging the horses on. This story of passion was part of the decoration of the Torre de la Parada.
Recognizable by the crescent-moon-shaped diadem on her head, Diana hunts deer with spears and dogs, accompanied by various nymphs. The extremely horizontal composition is one of the peculiarities of this work, which belongs to an important sect of sketches made by Rubens for the pictorial decoration of the Torre de la Parada. On these small panels, the painter defined the design, colors, forms and
As with the Rape of Hippodamia (P01658), this marriage scene was commissioned from Rubens as part of the mythological cycle drawn from Ovid´s Metamorphoses, which was to serve as the main artistic decoration of the Torre de la Parada. While Rubens prepared the oil sketch for the scene (Art Institute of Chicago), the Marriage of Peleus and Thetis was one of the numerous full-scale canvases whose ex
Diana the huntress is resting with her court of Nymphs in a clearing in the woods when she is attacked by a group of Satyrs. Rubens turned this painting into a virtuoso exercise in composition. In the foreground, two volumes lead to the rest of the scene: on the left are the hunting trophies attained by the nymphs, and on the right, a reclining nymph with her back to the viewer, one of the most se
After studying the canvas, the pigments, and the technique of this work as well as Diana and Callisto (P00424), we can be sure that they are Spanish copies from the 17th century. This makes them extremely interesting as components of the Madrid style during Carreño and Rizi’s generation. The originals of these paintings, some of the masterpieces by Titian in his final years, belonged to the
Youth portrait of Victor Amadeo II of Savoy (1666-1732) husband of Ana María de Orleans (1669-1728) and brother-in-law, therefore of Queen María Luisa de Orleans. The person portrayed would be disguised as a mythological character, perhaps Apollo. This canvas is one of a group of portraits collected by María Luisa de Orleans (1662-1689), first wife of Carlos II of Spain, which
Diana, the Roman goddess of the hunt, sleeps outdoors, leaning on a boulder and wrapped in a leopard skin. She wears her symbol, the crescent moon, on her head and her clothes are of classical inspiration. She is accompanied by her bow and arrows and a hunting horn. Van Loo painted numerous mythological scenes, generally characterized by a certain degree of eroticism. This was in keeping with the
In Book II of his Metamorphosis, Ovid tells how Jupiter tricked Callisto. This very beautiful nymph who was part of Diana the Huntress´ entourage was seduced by Jupiter, who took on the appearance of that goddess. When she became pregnant, Callisto attempted to hide her state from Diana, who was a virgin and demanded the same of all her entourage. Jupiter converted his lover into a bear in order t
This is a preliminary study for a scene from the Trojan War, painted for an unknown decorative scheme in the Royal Palace or another royal residence in Madrid. Agamemnon is about to sacrifice his daughter Iphigenia so that his fleet can reach Troy, as the Oracle told him. Moved by the sorrowing priests, warriors and companions of the young woman, whose innocence is emphasised by her white clothing
This is a sketch of the fresco that Corrado Giaquinto painted in the former stairway at the Madrid’s Royal Palace, which is now the Hall of Columns. That fresco, his last work at the Royal Palace, is undoubtedly one of the finest paintings from Giaquinto’s Spanish period.He concluded it in 1762, so the sketch presented here must have been made slightly earlier. At the top is the figure of Apollo,
