TIZIANO Vecellio
(b. 1490, Pieve di Cadore, d. 1576, Venezia)

Death of Actaeon

1562
Oil on canvas, 179 x 189 cm
National Gallery, London

In the years following the execution of his two celebrated mythological paintings, the Diana and Callisto, and the Diana and Actaeon, Titian painted other mythological paintings for Philip II, including the Rape of Europa (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston), the Death of Actaeon (National Gallery, London), and Perseus and Andromeda (Wallace Collection, London).

In the Death of Actaeon, the dramatic scene of the young hunter attacked and ripped apart by the pack of dogs takes place in a landscape of livid colours heavy with premonition.