Diana Hunting

Artist/Maker

Material / Technique

Dimensionsh x w: Mått 34 x 44 cm

Inventory numberNM 491

Other titlesTitle (sv): Dianas jakt Title (en): Diana Hunting

DescriptionCatalogue raisonné: Description in Flemish paintings C. 1600-C. 1800 III, Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, 2010, cat.no. 47: Technical notes: The painting’s support consists of a copper plate with a thickness of ±1.0 mm; the top edge is slightly irregularly cut. The verso of the plate shows evidence of its manufacture in the form of misshapen, oval, hammer marks as well as a series of parallel undulations running vertically at the upper right and lower left, indicating that rolling has taken place after hammering. Striations from the polishing with a fine steel brush are also visible on the verso. The corners of the plate are slightly dented. Paint is applied thinly and fluidly, with subtly controlled brushwork, in opaque and semi-transparent layers that completely cover the very thin white (lead white in oil?) ground. The latter was apparently applied using a brush as well as the fingers, as fingerprints are visible, for example, in the centre foreground. Low impastos occur in the white clouds and in the yellow highlights on the ‘stippled’ green foliage of the trees in the middle distance. Infrared reflectography, partially, revealed a dark underdrawing in a liquid medium applied with a fine brush delineating the contours of the larger foreground figures, hunting dogs and game, which were then held in reserve when the landscape was painted: as a result of the non-absorbency of the support and the thinness of the ground layer, the paint has formed ridges along the contours of the three figures in the right foreground, the hunting dogs and the trunk and branches of the large tree in the foreground on the right. The smaller figures in the middle distance and two of the hunting dogs (one about to enter the water, one in the water) – both based on models available in the Brueghel studio – were painted without prior drawing directly over the landscape. Apart from slight contour adjustments in the figures and animals during the painting stage, there are hardly any pentimenti: the ears of the squirrel in the left foreground were underdrawn in a more forward position than in the final painting. The painting is generally in very good condition. A discoloured layer of old varnish is present. Retouching covers losses and abrasion of the paint and ground layers along the edges, especially at the top and bottom edges and at the corners. Scattered small retouches are also visible throughout the landscape and animals, but there are very few in the figures. Much of the fine detailed painting is preserved in the figures, animals and still life elements, and the colours have largely retained their original freshness. A fine craquelure occurs in the more thickly painted sky and clouds, with a tendency towards flaking in this area. The painting underwent conservation treatment in 1931, 1935 and 1976. Provenance: Drottningholm, Fataburen, 1777, no. 78 (as manner of Cornelis van Poelenburch); Gustav III 1792, no. 298; KM 1816, no. 289 (as Alexander Keirincx). Exhibited: Stockholm 1933, no. 2 (as Hendrick van Balen I). Bibliography: NM Cat. 1867, p. 34 (as Alexander Keirincx); Sander I, p. 110, and II, p. 127; Göthe 1887, p. 129; Göthe 1893, p. 13 (as Hendrick van Balen I and Jan Brueghel I); NM Cat. 1958, p. 6 (as copy after Hendrick van Balen I); NM Cat. 1990, p. 9 (as copy after Hendrick van Balen I); Werche 2004, p. 166. Diana, chaste goddess of the hunt, with her nymphs and dogs are assembled in a glade in the woods after hunting. Standing beneath a tree on the right, her bow and quiver suspended from its branches, Diana is shown emptying the day’s catch of fish out of a net with the aid of one of her nymphs, who is kneeling on the ground next to the goddess, while her dogs gather impatiently nearby. The goddess is in the nude, her tunic slung over a branch of the tree. In the left foreground lie the spoils of the hunt – a still life comprising small game, including hares, squirrels, song birds and pheasants, as well as wolf, heron and deer. The pale skin of the nymphs makes a fine contrast to the dark green of leafy trees. This painting is a faithful reduced-size copy after a frequently repeated original of c. 1620/1621 by Jan Brueghel I, in collaboration with Hendrick van Balen I, now in Munich (Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, Alte Pinakothek).1Although a copy of rather good quality, probably produced not long after the original was created, the painting clearly lacks the highly refined execution, as well as the brilliant colours, that are typical of autograph works by Jan Brueghel I. Hunting scenes with Diana and her nymphs were apparently very popular at Antwerp in the first half of the 17th century.2Of the sixty paintings from Brueghel’s estate that were sold by his son, Jan Brueghel II, in 1626–1627, no fewer than seven were depictions of Diana, presumably done in part by the hand of the late master: five hunting scenes – one of which was described by Jan Brueghel II as a “copy after father’s” (“copye near vaders”) – and two fishing scenes.3 The Munich Diana Hunting is one of many such examples of a collaboration in which Brueghel supplied the wooded landscape, the animals, as well as the smallscale figures in the background, while his frequent coworker, Van Balen, provided the principal figures of Diana and her two companions on the right.4 CF 1 Oil on wood, 51.5 x 80.5 cm, Munich, Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, Alte Pinakothek, inv. no. 1950; see Ertz 1979, pp. 403, 406, 621 no. 375, fig. 480; and Werche 2004, cat. no. A83, illus. The verso of the support bears the monogram of the Antwerp panel-maker Michiel Vriendt and a branded letter “A”, which helps date the panel in the year 1620/1621. 2 For depictions of Diana by Brueghel, see Ertz 1979, nos. 356–358, 373–377. 3 See Vaes 1926–1927, pp. 207–209 (“copye near vaders”); and Denucé 1934, pp. 140–143, both cited by Van Suchtelen in Los Angeles/The Hague 2006/2007, p. 115 n. 3 (under nos. 10–11). 4 For Brueghel’s depictions of Diana made in collaboration with Hendrick van Balen I, see Ertz 1979, pp. 402–406, 620–621 nos. 373–377; and Werche 2004, nos. A80–85; see also nos. E 29–34. According to Ertz catalogue raisonné, Brueghel and Van Balen collaborated on as many as twenty-three paintings on copper and thirty-six panel paintings with allegorical or mythological subjects.[End]

Motif categoryReligion/Mythology

Collection

MaterialOil paint, Copper (Metal)

TechniquePainting

Object category

Keyword