User:Jihpaik/Diana and Her Nymphs Departing for the Hunt

Diana and Her Nymphs Departing for the Hunt is an oil on canvas painting by the Flemish artist Peter Paul Rubens, completed c. 1615. It depicts the Roman goddess Diana and other mythical creatures accompanying her on a hunt.

Subject
In the painting, the central figure is Diana, the Roman goddess of the moon, the hunt, and women. She wears a red robe and the skin of a tiger across her body, which covers one shoulder and leaves one of her breasts exposed, and to her left she carries a spear. On her head is a string of pearls and a crescent moon, pointing to the fact that she is the goddess of the moon.

The painting also depicts, surrounding Diana, a group of female nymphs who are engaged in various positions. To Diana’s left, a female nymph, dressed in a blue robe that reveals both her breasts and carrying a quiver of arrows, shields herself from a satyr who is trying to kiss her face. Another satyr is depicted in the far left of the painting, with only his head and arm, which reaches for the satyr and the nymph.

To Diana’s right are two nymphs, one of whom is dressed also in a blue robe with one breast exposed and carrying a whip, and another who is standing behind and covered by the nymph in the front.

Also surrounding Diana are three hunting dogs. One is on its hind legs and leaning into Diana, another stands behind her legs and looks towards the first dog, and the third, which is in the shadows, looks down towards the ground.

Medium
Diana and Her Nymphs Departing for the Hunt is painted with oil--a medium which dries quickly--on canvas. The artist’s use of oil paint can be visually detected in the soft highlights and shadows of the figures, which is characteristic of paintings completed with oil.

Techniques
The artist also employs a variety of brush stroke techniques, which can be seen in the distinctions between the background and the figures. The background, particularly the clouds in the upper right corner of the painting, display the artist’s short brush strokes, whereas the figures, especially their skin and clothing, are painted with blended brush strokes that are almost indiscernible, giving a smooth and seamless appearance.

Dimensions
The dimensions of the painting are 216 x 178.cm (85 1/16 x 70 ⅜ in) when unframed, and 261 x 225 x 11 cm (102 ¾ x 88 9/16 x 4 5/16 in) when framed.

Symbolism
The figures to the left of Diana--the two satyrs and the nymph--are widely perceived as representing the conflict between sexual desire and chastity, the latter of which is attributed to Diana’s traits as a goddess. The nymph to her right, who is dressed in blue and is standing in front of another nymph, is identified as having similar features to Isabella Brant, the artist’s wife. Diana’s physical features, as well as her distinct pose--specifically in the way her right leg is thrust in front and her left arm is bent behind her--is said to resemble the Farnese Hercules, a famous marble statue from antiquity that has been referenced by many other European artists. Moreover, the tiger skin that Diana wears, is a reference to Hercules’s lion, and the figures of the nymph and the satyr in the painting also allude to Hercules’s encounter with Vice and Virtue.

The Farnese Hercules
In Diana and Her Nymphs Departing for the Hunt, the figure of Diana resembles the how Hercules is portrayed in the classical sculpture, The Farnese Hercules, in which the Greek hero rests, in a stance similar to that of Diana in the painting, on a club and the skin of a lion. The tiger skin that is draped across Diana’s body in the painting also references the lion skin in the sculpture, substantiating the connection between the two works of art. Rubens’s studies and sketches of The Farnese Hercules, moreover, attests to the fact that this sculpture served as a frame of reference for the figure of Diana in the painting.

Portrait of Isabella Brant
Many art historians have noted the similarities between the features of the rightmost nymph in Diana and Her Nymphs Departing for the Hunt and those of Isabella Brant, who was the artist’s wife. Portrait of Isabella Brant allows for a visual comparison of these two figures, confirming that the depiction of the nymph is, indeed, a portrait of the artist’s wife.

The Rape of the Daughters of Leucippus
The two figures to the left of Diana--namely, the satyr and the nymph--closely resemble the figures in another work painted by Rubens: The Rape of the Daughters of Leucippus. This painting depicts the Greek myth of Castor and Pollux abducting the two daughters of Leucippus, Phoebe and Hilaeira. The visual resemblance can be found in the two central figures of this painting, Castor and one of the two daughters, who are not clearly distinguishable in the painting. The physical features of the nymph, as well as the angle at which her head is tilted and the expression on her face, clearly mirrors the depiction of the daughter, ultimately showing the interplay between these two paintings.

Provenance
Until 1784 - Wouter Valckenier and family, Amsterdam

1784-1796 - Elisabeth Hooft, Amsterdam

1796 - Van Coevorden, Amsterdam

1796-1798 - Michael Bryan, London

1798 - Simon H. Clarke, London

1798-1802 - Sir Simon Haughton Clarke, 9th Baronet Clark, Hertfordshire

1802-1803 - Michael Bryan, London

1803-1840 - Sir Simon H. Clarke, 10th Baronet Clark, Hertfordshire

1840-1873 - Thomas Baring, Esq., London

1873-1889 - Thomas George Baring, First Earl of Northbrook

1899-1905 - Mayer Alphonse de Rothschild, Ferrières

1905-1940 - Édouard and Germaine de Rothschild, Ferrières

1940-1942 - Hermann Goering, Brandenburg

1945-1948 - In possession of the Allies

1948-1959 - Édouard and Germaine de Rothschild, Chantilly

1959 - Rosenberg & Stiebel, New York

1959-present - The Cleveland Museum of Art, Ohio