Actaeon fleeing from Diana and her Companions
after Francesco Albani (Bologna 1578 - Bologna 1660)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1600 - 1660
Materials
Oil on copper
Measurements
16 1/2 x 12 1/2 in (42 x 32 cm)
Place of origin
Italy
Order this imageCollection
Shugborough Estate, Staffordshire
NT 1271094
Caption
According to the Roman poet Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Actaeon, whilst out hunting in the woods, accidentally happens upon the secluded bathing place of Diana, the chaste goddess of the hunt, and her attendant nymphs. The outraged goddess immediately avenges herself by transforming Actaeon into a stag to be devoured by his own hounds. This is a copy after a lost original painting.
Summary
Oil painting on copper, Actaeon fleeing from Diana and her Companions, after Francesco Albani (Bologna 1578 - Bologna 1660). Mountain and woodlands scene depicting a group of naked women bathing around a fountain, one woman to left taking a white cloth from a tree as a man flees the area.
Provenance
Transferred to the National Trust with Shugborough’s park and contents of the state rooms, in part-payment of death-duties to the Treasury, following the death of Thomas, 4th Earl of Lichfield (1883 - 1960)
Credit line
Shugborough, The Anson Collection (National Trust)
Makers and roles
after Francesco Albani (Bologna 1578 - Bologna 1660), artist