The Example Family Art Collection
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Titian (Tiziano Vecellio)
Venetian c.1490 - 1576
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Diana & Actaeon
c.1559
Venetian c.1490 - 1576
l
Diana & Actaeon
c.1559
History of the artist:
Titian is commonly considered to have been the greatest painter of 16th century Venice and was the first painter to have a mainly international clientele. During his long career, he experimented with many different styles of painting which embody the development of art during his epoch.
Titian is commonly considered to have been the greatest painter of 16th century Venice and was the first painter to have a mainly international clientele. During his long career, he experimented with many different styles of painting which embody the development of art during his epoch.
History of the work:
While out hunting, Actaeon accidentally discovered the secret bathing place of Diana, goddess of the moon and hunt. Titian explored the dramatic impact of this intrusion through a dynamic arrangement of figures, sparkling light, intense colour and animated brushwork.The stag's skull on the plinth foretells Actaeon's fate, for the outraged goddess transformed him into a stag to be devoured by his own hounds. The picture is one of a series of famous mythological paintings Titian called 'poesie', made for King Phillip II of Spain. The subjects were based on the ancient Roman poet Ovid's Metamorphoses. Titian planned the canvases as pairs, making 'Diana and Callisto' the partner to this work.
While out hunting, Actaeon accidentally discovered the secret bathing place of Diana, goddess of the moon and hunt. Titian explored the dramatic impact of this intrusion through a dynamic arrangement of figures, sparkling light, intense colour and animated brushwork.The stag's skull on the plinth foretells Actaeon's fate, for the outraged goddess transformed him into a stag to be devoured by his own hounds. The picture is one of a series of famous mythological paintings Titian called 'poesie', made for King Phillip II of Spain. The subjects were based on the ancient Roman poet Ovid's Metamorphoses. Titian planned the canvases as pairs, making 'Diana and Callisto' the partner to this work.
Details:
Accession number: 004-061
Medium: Oil on canvas
Size: 72" x 79" in (framed: 80 x 87 x 6 in)
Accession number: 004-061
Medium: Oil on canvas
Size: 72" x 79" in (framed: 80 x 87 x 6 in)
Provenance:
Painted between 1556 and 1559 for Philip II, King of Spain; by descent to Philip V, By whom presented to Antoine, 4th Duc de Gramont, French Ambassador to the Spanish court, 1704, By whom presented, probably around 1706–8, to Philippe, 2nd Duc d’Orléans, later French regent, By descent at the Palais-Royal, Paris, to Louis-Philippe-Joseph, Duc d’Orléans (Philippe Egalité), by whom sold in 1792 to Édouard Walckiers of Brussels (but resident in Paris), By whom sold in the same year to his cousin François-Louis-Joseph de Laborde-Méréville, Paris, By whom transported to London in 1793 and mortgaged to Jeremiah Harman, By whom sold in 1798 to the dealer Michael Bryan, acting on behalf of a syndicate consisting of Francis Egerton, 3rd Duke of Bridgewater, his nephew George Granville Leveson-Gower, Earl Gower (later 2nd Marquess of Stafford and 1st Duke of Sutherland) and Frederick, 5th Earl of Carlisle (husband of Lord Gower’s sister), Reserved by the Duke of Bridgewater, By whom bequeathed in 1803 to Lord Gower, By whom bequeathed in 1833 to his second son Lord Francis Leveson-Gower (who took the name Egerton in 1833 and was created 1st Earl of Ellesmere in 1846), By descent to John Sutherland, 5th Earl of Ellesmere, from 1963 6th Duke of Sutherland, by whom placed on loan to the National Gallery of Scotland in 1945, By whom bequeathed to Francis Egerton, 7th Duke of Sutherland in 2000, By whom sold in 2010 to the example family art collection.
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