''Diana and Callisto'' is a painting completed between 1556 and 1559 by the Italian late Renaissance artist

Titian Tiziano Vecelli or Vecellio (; 27 August 1576), known in English as Titian ( ), was an Italian (Venetian) painter of the Renaissance, considered the most important member of the 16th-century Venetian school. He was born in Pieve di Cadore, nea ...

. It portrays the moment in which the goddess Diana discovers that her maid

Callisto Callisto most commonly refers to: *Callisto (mythology), a nymph *Callisto (moon), a moon of Jupiter Callisto may also refer to: Art and entertainment *''Callisto series'', a sequence of novels by Lin Carter *''Callisto'', a novel by Torsten Kro ...

has become pregnant by

Jupiter Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a mass more than two and a half times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined, but slightly less than one-thousandth t ...

. The painting was jointly purchased by 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 over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current Director ...

and the

Scottish National Gallery The Scottish National Gallery (formerly the National Gallery of Scotland) is the national art gallery of Scotland. It is located on The Mound in central Edinburgh, close to Princes Street. The building was designed in a neoclassical style by W ...

for £45 million in March 2012. Along with its companion painting '' Diana and Actaeon'' it is displayed on an alternating basis between

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

and

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...

. There is a later version by Titian and his workshop in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

History

''Diana and Callisto'' is part of a series of seven famous canvasses, the "poesies", depicting mythological scenes from

Ovid Pūblius Ovidius Nāsō (; 20 March 43 BC – 17/18 AD), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a contemporary of the older Virgil and Horace, with whom he is often ranked as one of the th ...

's ''

Metamorphoses The ''Metamorphoses'' ( la, Metamorphōsēs, from grc, μεταμορφώσεις: "Transformations") is a Latin narrative poem from 8 CE by the Roman poet Ovid. It is considered his ''magnum opus''. The poem chronicles the history of the ...

'' painted for Philip II of Spain after

Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian II (31 July 1527 – 12 October 1576) was Holy Roman Emperor from 1564 until his death in 1576. A member of the Austrian House of Habsburg, he was crowned King of Bohemia in Prague on 14 May 1562 and elected King of Germany (Kin ...

had declined Titian's offer to paint them for him. The work remained in the

Spanish royal collection The Spanish royal collection of art was almost entirely built up by the monarchs of the Habsburg family who ruled Spain from 1516 to 1700, and then the Bourbons (1700–1868, with a brief interruption). They included a number of kings with a seri ...

until 1704 when King Philip V gave it to the French ambassador. It was soon acquired by

Philippe II, Duke of Orléans Philippe II, Duke of Orléans (Philippe Charles; 2 August 1674 – 2 December 1723), was a French prince, soldier, and statesman who served as Regent of the Kingdom of France from 1715 to 1723. He is referred to in French as ''le Régent''. ...

, nephew of

Louis XIV , house = Bourbon , father = Louis XIII , mother = Anne of Austria , birth_date = , birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France , death_date = , death_place = Palace of Ver ...

, and Regent of France during the minority of

Louis XV Louis XV (15 February 1710 – 10 May 1774), known as Louis the Beloved (french: le Bien-Aimé), was King of France from 1 September 1715 until his death in 1774. He succeeded his great-grandfather Louis XIV at the age of five. Until he reached ...

, for his collection, one of the finest ever assembled. After the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in coup of 18 Brumaire, November 1799. Many of its ...

, the

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

was sold to a

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

banker by Louis Philippe II, Duke of Orléans in 1791, two years before he was guillotined. It was sent to London for sale in 1793 and purchased by a syndicate of three aristocrats, the leader of which, the canal and coal-magnate

Francis Egerton, 3rd Duke of Bridgewater Francis Egerton, 3rd Duke of Bridgewater (21 May 1736 – 8 March 1803), known as Lord Francis Egerton until 1748, was a British nobleman from the Egerton family. He was the youngest son of the 1st Duke. He did not marry, and the dukedom expire ...

, bought a large number of paintings for himself, including ''Diana and Callisto'' and '' Diana and Actaeon'' (both from the "poesie" series), eight paintings by

Poussin Nicolas Poussin (, , ; June 1594 – 19 November 1665) was the leading painter of the classical French Baroque style, although he spent most of his working life in Rome. Most of his works were on religious and mythological subjects painted for ...

, three

Raphael Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino, better known as Raphael (; or ; March 28 or April 6, 1483April 6, 1520), was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. His work is admired for its clarity of form, ease of composition, and visual a ...

s and Rembrandt's "Self-Portrait, aged 51".

Sutherland collection

Bridgewater was probably inspired to buy the paintings by his nephew, Earl Gower, the ancestor of the Dukes of Sutherland. Certainly, on Bridgewater's death five years after the purchase, he bequeathed the Titians and the rest of his collection to Gower, who put it on display to the public in his Bridgewater House in London where it would remain on public display for the next century and a half. Upon first seeing the collection there,

William Hazlitt William Hazlitt (10 April 177818 September 1830) was an English essayist, drama and literary critic, painter, social commentator, and philosopher. He is now considered one of the greatest critics and essayists in the history of the English lan ...

wrote "I was staggered when I saw the works ... A new sense came upon me, a new heaven and a new Earth stood before me." At the outbreak of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

in September 1939, the collection was moved from London to Scotland. Since 1945, both ''Diana and Actaeon'' and ''Diana and Callisto'' (with other paintings from the collection, known collectively as "the Bridgewater loan" or "the Sutherland Loan") have resided at the National Gallery of Scotland (NGS) in

. Besides Hazlitt, during their time on public display the two Titian paintings have inspired such other artists as J. M. W. Turner and

Lucian Freud Lucian Michael Freud (; 8 December 1922 – 20 July 2011) was a British painter and draughtsman, specialising in figurative art, and is known as one of the foremost 20th-century English portraitists. He was born in Berlin, the son of Jewis ...

— Freud has described the pair as "simply the most beautiful pictures in the world".

National acquisition

The Sutherland collection has passed by descent to Francis Egerton, 7th Duke of Sutherland, most of whose wealth is contained in the paintings collection, but who, in late August 2008 announced his wish to sell some of the collection in order to diversify his assets. He at first offered them as a pair to the British national galleries at £100m (a third of their overall estimated market price) if they could demonstrate by the end of 2008 that they could raise that sum — if not, the pair or other paintings from the Bridgewater collection would be put on public auction in 2009. The NGS and the National Gallery in London announced that they would combine forces to raise £50m (or a demonstration that this money could be raised) to purchase ''Diana and Actaeon'' paid over three years in instalments and then £50m for ''Diana and Callisto'' to be paid for similarly from 2013. Though the campaign received criticism from

John Tusa Sir John Tusa (born 2 March 1936) is a British arts administrator, and radio and television journalist. He is co-chairman of the European Union Youth Orchestra from 2014. chairman, British Architecture Trust Board, RIBA, from 2014. From 1980 to ...

and Nigel Carrington for the Duke's motives and for distracting from funding art students, it gained press support in the UK. On 14 October 2008 the appeal received £1 million from the Art Fund and on 19 November this was followed by £10 million from the

National Heritage Memorial Fund The National Heritage Memorial Fund (NHMF) was set up in 1980 to save the most outstanding parts of the British national heritage, in memory of those who have given their lives for the UK. It replaced the National Land Fund which had fulfilled the ...

. Speculation began when the original December 31 deadline passed without news and the Scottish Government's announcement of a contribution of £17.5 million in January 2009 triggered a political row, with Ian Davidson questioning the deal at a time of economic hardship. There was also controversy over attempts to dilute the guarantee that the duke would sell no other of the paintings from the Sutherland Loan should the two Titians be bought. Finally, on February 2, 2009 it was announced that, thanks to the deadline being extended to raise more funds and finalise the payment plan for the ''Diana and Callisto'', £50m had been raised and the painting would be acquired. Nicholas Penny, Director of the National Gallery stated that many who had contributed to the ''Diana and Actaeon'' appeal had done so "on the understanding" that ''Diana and Callisto'' would also be purchased, but that raising the second £50m was "not going to be easily raised. We do believe we can do it, and we've given it a great deal of thought. It's not just reckless gambling.". However, on October 23, 2011, the Scottish government announced it would not make a contribution to the ''Diana and Callisto'' appeal, referring to its contribution to the ''Diana and Actaeon'' appeal by stating that "this government has made its contribution to the campaign". After a lengthy fundraising campaign, the National Gallery and the National Galleries of Scotland purchased the painting for £45 million in March 2012, the asking price having been reduced by £5 million by the Duke of Sutherland – £15 million had been raised by individual and trust donations, £2 million from the Art Fund and £3 million from the

Heritage Lottery Fund The National Lottery Heritage Fund, formerly the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), distributes a share of National Lottery funding, supporting a wide range of heritage projects across the United Kingdom. History The fund's predecessor bodies were ...

. The remaining £25 million came from the National Gallery's reserves, leaving them (in its director's words) "depleted" The painting is displayed with '' Diana and Actaeon'' on a rotating basis in London and Edinburgh, starting with London from 1 March 2012 – for the ''Diana and Callisto'', this will be on a 60:40 basis in favour of London, to reflect the National Gallery's greater monetary contribution to the purchase.

Painting materials

Titian employed an exceedingly wide palette consisting of nearly all pigments of the Renaissance period, such as natural

ultramarine Ultramarine is a deep blue color pigment which was originally made by grinding lapis lazuli into a powder. The name comes from the Latin ''ultramarinus'', literally 'beyond the sea', because the pigment was imported into Europe from mines in Afg ...

vermilion Vermilion (sometimes vermillion) is a color, color family, and pigment most often made, since antiquity until the 19th century, from the powdered mineral cinnabar (a form of mercury sulfide, which is toxic) and its corresponding color. It i ...

malachite Malachite is a copper carbonate hydroxide mineral, with the formula Cu2CO3(OH)2. This opaque, green-banded mineral crystallizes in the monoclinic crystal system, and most often forms botryoidal, fibrous, or stalagmitic masses, in fracture ...

, verdigris, ochres,

lead-tin-yellow Lead-tin-yellow is a yellow pigment, of historical importance in oil painting, sometimes called the "Yellow of the Old Masters" because of the frequency with which it was used by those famous painters. Nomenclature The name lead-tin yellow ...

smalt Cobalt glass—known as "smalt" when ground as a pigment—is a deep blue coloured glass prepared by including a cobalt compound, typically cobalt oxide or cobalt carbonate, in a glass melt. Cobalt is a very intense colouring agent and very litt ...

, and carmine.Titian, Diana and Callisto
ColourLex

Titian's ''poesie'' series for Philip II

* ''Danaë'', delivered to Philip 1553, now Wellington Collection, with earlier and later versions. * '' Venus and Adonis'', Museo del Prado, delivered 1554, and several other versions * ''Diana and Actaeon'', 1556–1559, owned jointly by London's

and the

National Gallery of Scotland The Scottish National Gallery (formerly the National Gallery of Scotland) is the national art gallery of Scotland. It is located on The Mound in central Edinburgh, close to Princes Street. The building was designed in a neoclassical style by W ...

in Edinburgh * ''Diana and Callisto'', 1556–1559, owned jointly by London's

and the

in Edinburgh * '' Perseus and Andromeda'',

Wallace Collection The Wallace Collection is a museum in London occupying Hertford House in Manchester Square, the former townhouse of the Seymour family, Marquesses of Hertford. It is named after Sir Richard Wallace, who built the extensive collection, along ...

, c. 1553–1562 * '' The Rape of Europa'', c. 1560–1562, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum * '' The Death of Actaeon'',

, never delivered and not always 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:Titian - Diana and Actaeon - Google Art Project.jpg, ''Diana and Actaeon'' File:TitianDianaCallistoEdinburgh.jpg, ''Diana and Callisto'' File:Perseo y Andrómeda, por Tiziano.jpg, '' Perseus and Andromeda'' File:Tizian 085.jpg, '' The Rape of Europa'' File:Titian - The Death of Actaeon - Google Art Project.jpg, '' The Death of Actaeon''

References

Sources

*Brigstocke, Hugh; ''Italian and Spanish Paintings in the National Gallery of Scotland'', 2nd Edn, 1993, National Galleries of Scotland,

External links

National Galleries of Scotland catalogue entry for ''Diana and Callisto''
*
Other press reactions to the NGS/NG appeal

Titian, ''Diana and Callisto''
ColourLex {{DEFAULTSORT:Diana And Callisto 1556 paintings 1557 paintings 1558 paintings 1559 paintings Paintings in the National Galleries of Scotland Paintings by Titian in the National Gallery, London Paintings depicting Diana (mythology) Nude art Paintings based on Metamorphoses Dogs in paintings by Titian Paintings formerly in the Spanish royal collection Paintings formerly in the Orleans Collection Mythological paintings by Titian Callisto (mythology)

History

Sutherland collection

National acquisition

Painting materials

Titian's ''poesie'' series for Philip II

See also

References

Sources

External links