Actaeon2.0002_Gérôme

National Gallery
OGCMA s.v. "Actaeon"

Jean-Leon Gerôme, "Diana and Actaeon," 1895

Gérôme's Diana has plenty of time to ward off the unwelcome intrusion of Actaeon and his hunting partners. He crests the hill in pursuit of the stag. Has the stag chosen this course because he knows Diana is here?

Reid reports that this painting is lost. See Ackerman 1986, no. 428. The image at right is from an internet blog, aristos.org. Click for higher resolution.

A black and white painting depicts a group of nude women bathing in a pond, with a deer watching from the bank.

The classic first phase of the Actaeon, as told by Ovid Met. 3.138 ff. Actaeon unwittingly stumbles upon Diana and her nymphs while bathing. For Titian's painting, click here: OGCMA0018Actaeon_Titian2

Actaeon’s treatment for this error, according to Ovid, set off a debate among the gods: Was the chaste goddess justified in her response to Actaeon’s ‘crime’?

OGCMA slides are designed by Roger T. Macfarlane for use in Classical Civilization 241 courses at Brigham Young University and other contexts.
This resource contains information assembled for The Oxford Guide to Classical Mythology in the Arts, and it is used with express permission from Oxford University Press.
Address concerns or inquiries to macfarlane@byu.edu.