Diana and Actaeon

In his early period, de Gheyn engraved two scenes by painter Dirck Barendsz (1534?1592). This Amsterdam artist spent seven years in Italy in Tizian’s workshop and was among the prominent Mannerist artists who brought their Italian experience to the Netherlands. The print depicts a mythological story from Ovid’s Metamorphoses. It describes how Diana, the goddess of the hunt, bathed in a forest lake along with her companions. Actaeon, grandson of the king of Thebes, got lost in the forest while hunting and, having stumbled upon the lake, saw Diana and her nymphs naked. As a punishment, the goddess turned him into a deer. Later, his own dogs hunted him down and torn him to pieces. Actaeon’s tragic end is depicted on the right in the background.