Diana and Endymion

c. 1695

Johann Michael Rottmayr (Austrian, 1654–1730)

Johann Michael Rottmayr’s scenes from Greek and Roman mythology in the collection of the Art Institute may have belonged to a series of seven paintings, each representing a celestial body. Here, the lunar goddess Diana, wearing a crescent moon headpiece, delicately embraces her beloved shepherd Endymion. Her rich blue cloak flies out behind her as if caught in a cosmic wind and her shining eyes fix on the cherub behind him who reminds her to keep quiet. In fact, there is no need to worry, as she has placed Endymion in an eternal sleep so that she can gaze lovingly upon him each night.

Status: On View, Gallery 208
Department: Painting and Sculpture of Europe

Artist: Johann Michael Rottmayr
Title: Diana and Endymion
Place: Austria (Object made in:)
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.: 1690–1700
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 81.3 × 125.2 cm (32 × 49 1/2 in.)
Credit Line: Gift of Jacob S. Sherman
Reference Number: 1961.38
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/12876/manifest.json

Art Institute of Chicago, Paintings in The Art Institute of Chicago: A Catalogue of the Picture Collection (Chicago, 1961), p. 405A.
Edward A. Maser, “Five Early Paintings by Johann Michael Rottmayr,” Art Institute of Chicago Museum Studies 2 (1967), pp. 19, 22–31, pl. 2.
Edward A. Maser, “Fünf frühe Gemälde des Johann Rottmayr,” Alte und Moderne Kunst 24 (1979), pp. 1–4, ill. no. 5.
Erich Hubala, Johann Michael Rottmayr (Vienna, 1981) p. 182, no. G21, fig. 43.

Sarasota, Fla., John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, “Central Europe: 1600–1800,” 27 January–27 February 1972.

Unknown Illinois banker; given by banker to Jacob S. Sherman, Chicago, during the 1930s as collateral for a loan that was never repaid [according to Robert Parker Sherman, son of Jacob S. Sherman, telephone conversation with Martha Wolff, 23 July 2003, transcribed in curatorial file]; given by Jacob S. Sherman (died 1961) to the Art Institute, 1961.

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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.