CLOUET, François
(b. ca. 1510, Tours, d. 1572, Paris)

The Bath of Diana

1550s
Oil on panel, 133 x 192 cm
Musée des Beaux-Arts, Rouen

This mythological scene represents Diana surrounded by nymphs and satyrs. The left background is dominated by the imaginary equestrian portrait of Henri II. Born in the Royal Château at Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France, the son of François I and Claude de France, his marriage was arranged to Catherine de Medici on October 28 1533 when both were 14 years old. His long-running affair with Diane de Poitiers lasted throughout his married life.

There is an almost identical smaller version of this painting in the Museu de Arte, São Paulo.