Actaeon1.0034

Actaeon1.0034_Titian

A mythological painting of Diana, dressed in red, aiming her bow at Actaeon being attacked by hounds.

Because she was offended by his seeing her naked, Artemis transformed Actaeon into a stag and compelled his own hunting dogs to hunt him to the death. Here she inflicts a mortal wound with her arrow, but not before the half-stag Actaeon is attacked by his own vicious (unwitting) dogs. Consistent with his faithful depiction of Ovidian narratives, Titian shows Actaeon assailed fatally by his own dogs and then slain by the goddess's arrow. Does she euthanize him? Do the dogs merely brutalize him until she can appear and kill him herself, a final blow delivering the justice she feels he deserves?

Remarkable is how the specific details from Ovid's Metamorphoses version appear in Titian's painting. ("Ovidification")

The National Gallery's website gives insightful commentary and close-up views.