Diana c.1660-1700
Oil on canvas | 186.0 x 107.5 cm (support, canvas/panel/stretcher external) | RCIN 406200
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The goddess of the moon, Diana is identifiable here by the crescent moon on her head. She is shown standing at three-quarter-length, glancing back over her right shoulder. Diana was also the goddess of the hunt, as indicated by the bow which she holds to her left breast, the quiver of arrows on her back and the hunting dog shown in profile at the lower right of the composition. She wears a silver-grey dress with pink stripes over a white chemise, with a deep-ochre robe held in place by a chain over her right shoulder.
The painting has been described as a copy after Titian, but it is in fact a metamorphosis after a Judith by Padovanino at Dresden. Alessandro Varotari, known as il Padovanino, settled in Venice in 1614 and was vastly productive as an imitator of the style of earlier artists such Titian and Veronese. This painting is competent but lifeless, and seems inferior to Padovanino's own work – it may be an English pastiche of the Restoration period.Provenance
First recorded in 1688 in the 'Passage between the King's Eating Room and Queen's Drawing Room' (currently King's Dining Room) at Windsor Castle (no 798)
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Creator(s)
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Medium and techniques
Oil on canvas
Measurements
186.0 x 107.5 cm (support, canvas/panel/stretcher external)
108.0 x 91.0 cm (support (etc), excluding additions)
200.5 x 124.0 x 8.0 cm (frame, external)
Category
Object type(s)