STALBEMT, Adriaen van
(b. 1580, Antwerpen, d. 1662, Antwerpen)

Diana and Actaeon

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Oil on panel, 55 x 77 cm
Private collection

Ovid describes at length (Met. 3:138-253) how the young prince Actaeon, hunting in the forest, stumbled accidentally upon the grotto where Diana and her companion were bathing. To punish him for the glimpse of divine nudity, the goddess turned him into a stag. He was pursued and torn to pieces by his own hounds.

This story is set by Stalbemt in a wooded landscape.