Diana and Actaeon

1585–92

Jacopo Bassano (Italian, c. 1510-1592)

According to Roman myth, Actaeon, a mortal youth, was out hunting when he came upon Diana, the goddess of the moon and the hunt, bathing with her nymphs in a secret grotto. To punish him for his intrusion, Diana transformed Actaeon into a stag, and he was subsequently killed by his own hounds. With its poetic, silvery light and broken, dabbed brushstrokes, this small painting is a rare example of Jacopo Bassano’s hand at the end of his career. Working in the small town of Bassano del Grappa, Jacopo was one of the most influential painters in Venice and the surrounding region. His four sons carried his lively, colorful, and naturalistic style forward into the 17th century.

Status: On View, Gallery 206
Department: Painting and Sculpture of Europe

Artist: Jacopo Bassano
Title: Diana and Actaeon
Place: Italy (Artist's nationality:)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: 1580–1590
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 63.6 × 68.7 cm (25 × 27 in.); Framed: 82.6 × 88.3 × 10.2 cm (32 1/2 × 34 3/4 × 4 in.)
Credit Line: Charles H. and Mary F. S. Worcester Collection
Reference Number: 1939.2239
IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.: https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/110782/manifest.json

Pierre Crozat, Recueil d’estampes d’après les plus beaux tableaux et d’après les plus beaux dessins qui sont en France…, vol. 2, L’Ecole venitienne (Paris, 1763), no. XII (ill.).
Lili Fröhlich-Bum, “Some Original Compositions by Francesco and Leandro Bassano,” Burlington Magazine 61 (1932), p. 114.
Frederick A. Sweet, “Actaeon and the Nymphs,” Art Institute of Chicago Bulletin 34 (1940), pp. 94-96 (ill.).
Roberto Longhi, “Calepino veneziano. XIV. Suggerimenti per Jacopo Bassano,” Arte veneta 2 (1948), p. 55, fig. 65; reprinted in Opere complete di Roberto Longhi, vol. 10 (Florence, 1978), p. 98, fig. 197.
Frederick A. Sweet, “La pittura italiana all’Art Institute di Chicago,” Le vie del mondo: Rivista mensile del Touring Club Italiano 15 (1953), p. 698.
Bernard Berenson, Italian Pictures of the Renaissance: Venetian School (London, 1957), vol. 1, p. 17.
Rodolfo Pallucchini, “Commento alla mostra di Jacopo Bassano,” Arte veneta 11 (1957), p. 115.
Pietro Zampetti, Jacopo Bassano, trans. J. Guthrie (Rome, 1958), p. 57, pls. 75-76.
Edoardo Arslan, I Bassano (Milan, 1960), vol. 1, p. 259.
Art Institute of Chicago, Paintings in The Art Institute of Chicago: A Catalogue of the Picture Collection (Chicago, 1961), p. 18.
Alessandro Ballarin, “Chirurgia bassanesca (I),” Arte veneta 20 (1966), p. 116.
Alessandro Ballarin, “La vecchiaia di Jacopo Bassano: Le fonti e la critica,” Atti dell’istituto veneto di scienze, lettere ed arti 125 (1967), pp. 159, 161.
Burton B. Fredericksen and Federico Zeri, Census of Pre-Nineteenth-Century Italian Paintings in North American Public Collections (Cambridge, Mass., 1972), pp. 18, 469, 571.
Licisco Magagnato in The Genius of Venice, 1500-1600, exh. cat. (London, Royal Academy of Arts, 1983), p. 151, under no. 11.
Christopher Lloyd, Italian Paintings before 1600 in The Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago, 1993), pp. 21-24 (ill.).
Carl Brandon Strehlke, “Italian Paintings before 1600 in The Art Institute of Chicago, A Catalogue of the Collection.” (book review) Burlington Magazine 136 (1994), p. 625.

Venice, Palazzo Ducale, Jacopo Bassano, 1957, cat. 60.
Peoria, Illinois, Lakeside Center for the Arts and Sciences, The Grand Tour, 1970. no cat.
Bassano del Grappa, Museo Civico, Jacopo Bassano, September 5-December 6, 1992, cat. 73.
The Art Institute of Chicago, Bill Viola: A 25-Year Survey, October 16, 1999 – January 9, 2000, included in the gallery that held Viola’s The Greeting for the Chicago venue.

Possibly Jacopo Bassano (died 1592), Venice [inventory of studio content dated April 27, 1592, drawn up shortly after the artist’s death, “No. 130. L’Istoria d’Ateo, d’un braccio d’ogni banda” (The Story of Actaeon, one braccio in every direction); see Giambatista Verci, “Notizie intorno alla vita e alle opere de’pittori, scultori e intagliatori dell città di Bassano,” Venice, 1775, p. 75]. Dupille, Paris, by 1763 [engraved by E. Fessard; see Crozat, 1763.] E. and A. Silberman Galleries, New York, by 1939 [Letter from Charles H. Worcester’s secretary to Silberman of October 5, 1939, in curatorial file]; sold by Silberman to Charles H. Worcester, Chicago, 1939; given to the Art Institute, 1939.

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Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

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IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.