Diana and Actaeon
1556–1559 · Oil on canvas · National Gallery, London
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About this work
- Artist
- Titian (c. 1488–1576)
- Year
- 1556–1559
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Original size
- 184.5 × 202.2 cm
- Collection
- National Gallery, London
- Movement
- Renaissance
The hunter Actaeon pulls back a red curtain and stumbles on the goddess Diana and her nymphs bathing at a fountain in a ruined arcade; Diana, marked by the crescent moon in her hair, turns on him while her companions try to hide, and a stag's skull on a pillar foretells his fate. The story comes from Ovid's Metamorphoses: Diana turns Actaeon into a stag, and his own hounds tear him apart. Titian painted it in Venice in 1556–1559 for Philip II of Spain as one of the poesie, a series of mythological canvases, alongside its pair Diana and Callisto. It stayed in the Spanish royal collection until 1704, when Philip V gave it to the French ambassador, and it later belonged to the Orléans collection in Paris. The Duke of Bridgewater bought it in 1798, and it was on public view in London from the early nineteenth century. In 2009 the National Gallery, London and the National Galleries of Scotland acquired it jointly, and it alternates between the two.
This exhibition-poster edition shows the whole work beneath original typography set in-house. The original is in the public domain.
Where it works
A crowd of bathing nymphs under a ruined arch, a startled hunter, a red curtain and a deep blue sky, for a living room or large hallway at 24×36 in black. A deep teal, oxblood or warm stone wall; it pairs with Bacchus and Ariadne.
Style, size & framing detail
- Style
- Exhibition poster of a Renaissance painting
- Era
- 16th century (1556–1559)
- Orientation
- Portrait
- Palette
- cream & beige
- Mood
- grand
- Rooms
- living room, hallway or entryway, dining room
- Good gift for
- housewarming, art lovers
Size. We'd hang this one at 24×36. Prints at 12×18, 16×24, 24×36 in — 12×18 for a shelf, desk or a gallery-wall grid; 16×24 above a desk, console or in a hallway; 24×36 as the statement piece above a sofa or bed.
Framing. Exhibition posters sit best in a slim black frame with no mat — the typeset margin is the mat.
Pairing. Pairs as a set of three with other famous painting prints (10% off three or more).
Details & materials
Shipping & returns
Is this the whole painting, or a crop?
Is Diana and Actaeon in the public domain?
What is it printed on?
When was Diana and Actaeon painted, and in what medium?
What size works above a sofa or bed?
About this design
The Madten promise
A fine-art print
The same artwork as a clean fine-art print — the image shown large with a minimal caption.
