Diana and her Nymphs
Artist/Maker
Material / Technique
Dimensionsh x w: Mått 62 x 74 cm
Inventory numberNMDrh 711
Other titlesTitel (sv): Diana och nymfer Titel (en): Diana and her Nymphs
DescriptionRes. Katalogtext: Description in Italian Paintings: Three Centuries of Collecting, Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, 2015, cat.no. 48: FORMER INV. NOS.: 48 (M. 1796–97); 187 (F. 1798); 402 (M. 1804); KM 211; NM 7. TECHNICAL NOTES: The support is a single piece of coarse, plain-weave linen fabric (12 x 12 threads/cm2). The ground is red. The painting has been lined with glue and mounted with staples on a Martelli strainer. This was probably done in Italy before shipping to Sweden. Impastos in the paint layer have been flattened due to the lining. The paint layer is abraded. There are many old retouches. X-ray reveals a change in the composition. The head of the maid to the right of Diana was earlier turned to the left and downwards. In the version now visible, she has her head turned upwards, to the right. Documented restorations: 1990: An old tear in the canvas was reinforced. Retouching; 2007: Retouching and reduction of yellowed varnish. Varnish. PROVENANCE: Martelli 1804. BIBLIOGRAPHY: Sander 1872–76, III, p. 131, no. 402 (as Francesco Albani, after). The present painting, together with its pendant NMDrh 710 (cat. no. 47), is attributed in Fredenheim’s catalogue to Albani.¹ It was later attributed to Crespi by Pontus Grate, an attribution which could be correct.² The painting appears to belong naturally to Crespi’s series of Ovidian pastoral landscapes. The composition is harmoniously balanced through the interplay of Diana and her nymphs, an interplay that is conveyed as much by poses as by the interlocking eyes of the figures. Recurring Crespi types for these kinds of pastorals are, for example, the nymph undressing in the centre left foreground and the seated nymph, behind and to the right of Diana, whose profile is of a typical Crespi kind. In fact, all the facial types, both that of Diana and those of her nymphs, are typical of Crespi’s small figures in landscapes, with their strongly marked and somewhat upturned noses, and eyes that seem to slant somewhat, depicted by single fine brushstrokes. An interaction of figures with these kinds of characteristics can be found in paintings such as The Finding of Moses and David and Abigail in the Museo del Palazzo di Venezia, Rome.³ The striding woman carrying the rabbits, entering the scene from the right, is very similar to the woman with the staff found in the painting of the Nurture of Jupiter, in the Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, and is again a recurring type in Crespi’s oeuvre, also seen for example in the painting of the Nymphs Guarding the Sleeping Cupids in the Pinacoteca Nazionale, Bologna.⁴ IR reflectography has revealed pentimenti which show that the nymph with the upturned face was originally depicted in a more pensive mood, with her head resting in her arms. The finely detailed depiction of the hunting dogs shows Crespi’s command of animal painting and reveals his extensive study of these subjects, as well as of the work of artists such as Cerquozzi.⁵ In the tradition of Albani, the landscape seems to be bathed in the twilight of the late afternoon, and the detailed background landscape is built around glades with finely detailed trees and bushes. If considered autograph, this painting should in all likelihood be placed in the late period of Crespi’s career. Perhaps even more so than its pendant, it should then be viewed as an exception in terms of the artist’s treatment of light and background landscape in his bucolic pastorals.⁶ However, there are in fact other paintings attributed to Crespi that are similar to the present one in this respect; indeed, the similarity in light and mood between the present work and the two versions of the Nurture of Jupiter, in the Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, and the Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart, is striking.⁷ Those pictures are painted on copper and Crespi has therefore modified his technique to suit the medium, yet the rendering of the background landscape in quite short, distinctive brushstrokes to convey sky, mountains and meadows is akin to that found in the Nationalmuseum paintings. dp 1 NM Archives, Kongl. Museum, F:1, Catalogue du Cabinet de Martelli (à Rome). 2 NM Archives, Dokumentationsarkivet: NMDrh 710. 3 Spike 1986, pp. 146–147, cat. no. 19, fig. 19.1. Emiliani and Rave 1990, pp. 388–389, 400–401, cat. nos. 69, 75. 4 Spike 1986, pp. 154–155, cat. no. 22, fig. 22.1. Emiliani and Rave 1990, pp. 292–293, cat. no. 22. 5 Miller 1985, pp. 339–342. 6 Ibid. 7 Spike 1986, pp. 154–155, cat. no. 22, fig. 22.1. [End]
Collection
TechniquePainting
Object category