Diana and the nymphs

The work is one of a pair of paintings.
See also Inv. A 98

Both paintings came from the rich collection of works of art of the Vicenza noblewoman Paolina Porto Godi, arriving in the Museum in 1831. For a long time it was believed that Giambattista Pittoni had conceived them as companion pieces, however, on careful analysis, the two works have revealed substantial differences, so this hypothesis can be discarded.

The first work, painted in 1721 or 1722, illustrates an episode from the Gerusalemme Liberata by Torquato Tasso (II, 33-38): the Moslem heroine Clorinda frees the two young Christians Olindo and Sofronia who, unjustly accused of theft, had been condemned to burn at the stake by the king Aladino. The scene crowded with characters and the agitated narration of the episode, together with the repeated chiaroscuro effects, are the expression of a taste still typical of the late seventeenth century, far from the exuberance of decorative elements, the elegance and the eighteenth-century lightness and rococo style of the painting of Diana and the nymphs.

In this second painting, which is larger than the other and dates back to 1723-1725, the artist depicts the goddess Diana who, helped by her nymphs, is undressing to bathe in the waters of a peaceful stream. Relegated in the background, against a deep view of landscape, appears the figure of Acteon. The mythological episode is a kind of pretext, offering the artist the possibility of making a composition charged with eroticism and sensuality expressed by fresh and delicate female nudes. Diana herself does not appear as the cruel goddess who had transformed the young hunter Acteon into a stag when he was caught spying on her while she was bathing, having him attacked and torn to pieces by his own dogs.