''The Death of Actaeon'' is a late work by the Italian Renaissance painter

Titian Tiziano Vecellio (; 27 August 1576), Latinized as Titianus, hence known in English as Titian ( ), was an Italian Renaissance painter, the most important artist of Renaissance Venetian painting. He was born in Pieve di Cadore, near Belluno. Ti ...

, painted in oil on canvas from about 1559 to his death in 1576 and now in the

National Gallery The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of more than 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current di ...

in London. It is very probably one of the two paintings the artist stated he had started and hopes to finish (one of which he calls " Actaeon mauled by hounds") in a letter to their commissioner

Philip II of Spain Philip II (21 May 152713 September 1598), sometimes known in Spain as Philip the Prudent (), was King of Spain from 1556, King of Portugal from 1580, and King of Naples and List of Sicilian monarchs, Sicily from 1554 until his death in 1598. He ...

during June 1559. However, most of Titian's work on this painting possibly dates to the late 1560s, but with touches from the 1570s. Titian seems never to have resolved it to his satisfaction, and the painting apparently remained in his studio until his death in 1576. There has been considerable debate as to whether it is finished or not, as with other very late Titians, such as the '' Flaying of Marsyas'', which unlike this has a signature, perhaps an indication of completion. Gallery of Archduke Leopold Wilhelm in Brussels - Petworth House

Gallery of Archduke Leopold Wilhelm in Brussels - Petworth House

It is a sequel of Titian's work '' Diana and Actaeon'' showing the story's tragic conclusion, which approximately follows the Roman poet

Ovid Publius Ovidius Naso (; 20 March 43 BC – AD 17/18), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Augustan literature (ancient Rome), Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a younger contemporary of Virgil and Horace, with whom he i ...

's account in the ''

Metamorphoses The ''Metamorphoses'' (, , ) is a Latin Narrative poetry, narrative poem from 8 Common Era, CE by the Ancient Rome, Roman poet Ovid. It is considered his ''Masterpiece, magnum opus''. The poem chronicles the history of the world from its Cre ...

'': after Actaeon surprised the goddess Diana bathing naked in the woods, she transformed him into a stag and he was attacked and killed by his own hounds."The Death of Actaeon"
''

''. London. Both paintings belong to a group of large-scale mythological paintings inspired by the ''Metamorphoses'' and referred to by Titian himself as ‘poesie’, the visual equivalent of poetry, which he began producing for Philip II of Spain in 1551 and which also include '' Danaë'' (many versions, the original, the first for Philip is in Apsley House,

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, after Joseph Bonaparte took it away when he left

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

. A later copy of Titian himself, perhaps the most sensual of all is in the Prado,

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

), '' Venus and Adonis'' (original in the Prado,

, but also other versions), '' Perseus and Andromeda'' (

Wallace Collection The Wallace Collection is a museum in London occupying Hertford House in Manchester Square, the former townhouse (Great Britain), townhouse of the Seymour family, Marquess of Hertford, Marquesses of Hertford. It is named after Sir Richard Wall ...

, London), '' The Rape of Europa'' ( Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum,

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

), '' Diana and Actaeon'' and '' Diana and Callisto'' (shared by National Gallery of Scotland with NG London). However, as ''The Death of Actaeon'' was never delivered to Philip, it is not always counted in the series.

Subject

Ovid's account does not include Diana herself pursuing Actaeon, or shooting at him, though in some other classical accounts she does chase him. She seems to have just loosed an arrow, but there is no sign of the arrow in the painting, nor is the bowstring visible. The goddess does not have her attribute of the small crescent in her hair that Titian's other two depictions in the ''poesie'' do, which troubled one early critic. There were ancient reliefs and

engraved gem An engraved gem, frequently referred to as an intaglio, is a small and usually semi-precious gemstone that has been carved, in the Western tradition normally with images or inscriptions only on one face. The engraving of gemstones was a major lux ...

s showing either Diana hunting with dogs, or Actaeon being attacked by his dogs, and a few Renaissance works, but the subject was rare, and "it may be that Titian had never seen another painting or other representation of the subject."

History

It was probably still in Titian's studio at his death in 1576, and presumably sold in Venice by his heirs. It probably belonged to the famous Venetian collection of Bartolomeo della Nave, most of which was bought for James Hamilton, 1st Duke of Hamilton (then still a Marquess) in 1636–38, one of the great collectors of the period in Britain. Hamilton's brother-in-law, Basil Feilding, 2nd Earl of Denbigh (as he later became) was English ambassador to Venice, and helped to arrange the purchase. A list of available paintings he sent Hamilton includes "A Diana shooting Adonis in forme of a Hart not quite finished" by Titian. Hamilton, who was a Royalist commander in the

English Civil War The English Civil War or Great Rebellion was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Cavaliers, Royalists and Roundhead, Parliamentarians in the Kingdom of England from 1642 to 1651. Part of the wider 1639 to 1653 Wars of th ...

, was captured and executed in 1649 after losing the Battle of Preston to

Oliver Cromwell Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English statesman, politician and soldier, widely regarded as one of the most important figures in British history. He came to prominence during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, initially ...

. This, like most of his collection, was bought by Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria, Governor of the Spanish Netherlands from 1647 to 1656. The painting appears (looking rather lighter in tone than today) in David Teniers the Younger's painting of the '' Gallery of Archduke Leopold Wilhelm'' (1651, now Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels), as well as his different versions of the subject now in Petworth House and the

Kunsthistorisches Museum The Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien ( "Vienna Museum of art history, Art History", often referred to as the "Museum of Fine Arts, Vienna") is an art museum in Vienna, Austria. Housed in its festive palatial building on the Vienna Ring Road, i ...

in Vienna. The archduke seems to have given it to Queen

Christina of Sweden Christina (; 18 December ld Style and New Style dates, O.S. 8 December1626 – 19 April 1689), a member of the House of Vasa, was Monarchy of Sweden, Queen of Sweden from 1632 until her abdication in 1654. Her conversion to Catholicism and ...

, whose route into exile went through the

Spanish Netherlands The Spanish Netherlands (; ; ; ) (historically in Spanish: , the name "Flanders" was used as a '' pars pro toto'') was the Habsburg Netherlands ruled by the Spanish branch of the Habsburgs from 1556 to 1714. They were a collection of States of t ...

, before she settled in Rome. It does not appear in an inventory of her collection made in

Antwerp Antwerp (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third-largest city in Belgium by area at , after ...

in 1656, but is in one made in Rome in 1662 or 1663. After her death it eventually passed, with much of her collection, into the

Orleans Collection The Orleans Collection was a very important collection of over 500 paintings formed by Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, mostly acquired between about 1700 and his death in 1723. Apart from the great royal-become-national collections of Europe it is ...

in Paris in 1721. Like most of the collection, it was bought by a consortium in London after the French Revolution, and then sold in 1798 to Sir Abraham Hume, 2nd Baronet for the modest sum of 200 guineas, the price no doubt reflecting that it was considered by Hume and others as unfinished. Hume described it as "a great painting never finished but quite beautiful". Hume was the author of the first

monograph A monograph is generally a long-form work on one (usually scholarly) subject, or one aspect of a subject, typically created by a single author or artist (or, sometimes, by two or more authors). Traditionally it is in written form and published a ...

on Titian, published in 1829, and "was especially appreciative of preliminary sketches by Venetian artists (or what he believed to be such)." His collection passed by descent to Adelbert Brownlow-Cust, 3rd Earl Brownlow, who was made a Trustee of the National Gallery in 1897. By 1914 Brownlow needed to raise some cash, and offered the gallery this painting for £5,000 and a portrait by

Anthony van Dyck Sir Anthony van Dyck (; ; 22 March 1599 – 9 December 1641) was a Flemish Baroque painting, Flemish Baroque artist who became the leading court painter in England after success in the Spanish Netherlands and Italy. The seventh child of ...

for £10,000, writing "I only ask from the Gallery what I consider to be a very low price because I am anxious to see them in the gallery". The van Dyck was bought but the Titian declined, because of the opposition of another trustee, Alfred de Rothschild, who declared that the Titian "would not fetch £5 at

Christie's Christie's is a British auction house founded in 1766 by James Christie (auctioneer), James Christie. Its main premises are on King Street, St James's in London, and it has additional salerooms in New York, Paris, Hong Kong, Milan, Geneva, Shan ...

". Other trustees may have been in favour but the "difficult character" of Rothschild, who was hoped to be planning a bequest to the gallery, might have resigned if the purchase was made. In 1919 the painting was bought via the dealers

Colnaghi's Colnaghi is an art dealership in St James's, central London, England, which is the oldest art museum, commercial art gallery in the world, having been established in 1760. Foundation The business that became the Colnaghi gallery was establis ...

for £60,000 by Henry Lascelles, 6th Earl of Harewood (then Viscount Lascelles), giving "the measure of Rothschild's expertise and of Brownlow's generosity". In 1971, when the painting had already been on loan to the National Gallery for ten years, the trustees of the 7th Earl sold the painting at

for £1,680,000. It was bought by the dealer Julius Weitzner and swiftly resold to the J. Paul Getty Museum in Malibu for £1,763,000. At this point an export licence was needed, and the Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art suspended granting one for one year to allow a British buyer to match this price. The public campaign in 1971 to buy it for the United Kingdom was one of the great successes of Martin Davies's directorship of the

, despite Davies's own lukewarm enthusiasm for the painting. It was eventually purchased in 1972 (as catalogue number NG6420) with £1,000,000 from the gallery's funds and a special Treasury grant matching other donations pound for pound; these included £100,000 from the Art Fund and £50,000 from the Pilgrim Trust, the rest raised by a public appeal, then a great innovation.Penny, 255

''Poesie'' mythological series

* '' Danaë'', delivered to Philip in 1553, now Wellington Collection, with earlier and later versions. * ''Venus and Adonis'', Museo del Prado, delivered 1554, and several other versions * '' Perseus and Andromeda'',

, c. 1554–1556 * ''Diana and Actaeon'', 1556–1559, owned jointly by London's

and the National Gallery of Scotland in Edinburgh * '' Diana and Callisto'', 1556–1559, owned jointly by London's

and the National Gallery of Scotland in Edinburgh * '' The Rape of Europa'', c. 1560–1562, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum * ''The Death of Actaeon'',

, never delivered, and often not counted in the series, c. 1559 onwards File:Tizian - Danae receiving the Golden Rain - Prado.jpg, '' Danaë'' File:Venus and Adonis by Titian.jpg, '' Venus and Adonis'' File:Perseo y Andrómeda, por Tiziano.jpg, '' Perseus and Andromeda'' File:Titian - Diana and Actaeon - Google Art Project.jpg, ''Diana and Actaeon'' File:TitianDianaCallistoEdinburgh.jpg, '' Diana and Callisto'' File:Tizian 085.jpg, ''The Rape of Europa'' File:Titian - The Death of Actaeon - Google Art Project.jpg, ''The Death of Actaeon''

Notes

References

*Jaffé, David (ed), ''Titian'', The National Gallery Company/Yale, London 2003, (no. 37, catalogue entry by Nicholas Penny) * Penny, Nicholas, National Gallery Catalogues (new series): ''The Sixteenth Century Italian Paintings, Volume II, Venice 1540-1600'', pp. 248–259, 2008, National Gallery Publications Ltd,

External links