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

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 ...

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

Callisto CALLISTO (''Cooperative Action Leading to Launcher Innovation in Stage Toss-back Operations'') is a reusable VTVL Prototype, demonstrator propelled by a small 40 kN Japanese LOX-LH2 rocket engine. It is being developed jointly by the CNES, French ...

has become pregnant by

Jupiter Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the List of Solar System objects by size, largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a Jupiter mass, mass more than 2.5 times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined a ...

. 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 more than 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current di ...

and the

Scottish National Gallery The National (formerly the Scottish National Gallery) 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 William Henry Play ...

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 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 ...

and

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

. There is a later version by Titian and his workshop in 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 Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

History

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

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 ''

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 ...

'' painted for

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 ...

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 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), who was known as the Regent, was a French prince, soldier, and statesman who served as Regent of the Kingdom of France from 1715 to 1723. He is referred to i ...

, nephew of

Louis XIV LouisXIV (Louis-Dieudonné; 5 September 16381 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great () or the Sun King (), was King of France from 1643 until his death in 1715. His verified reign of 72 years and 110 days is the List of longest-reign ...

, and Regent of France during the minority of

Louis XV Louis XV (15 February 1710 – 10 May 1774), known as Louis the Beloved (), 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 maturity (then defi ...

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

was sold to a

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

banker by

Louis Philippe II, Duke of Orléans Louis Philippe II, Duke of Orléans (Louis Philippe Joseph; 13 April 17476 November 1793), was a French Prince of the Blood who supported the French Revolution. Louis Philippe II was born at the to Louis Philippe I, Duke of Orléans, Louis Phi ...

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, 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 a French painter who was a leading painter of the Classicism, classical French Baroque style, although he spent most of his working life in Rome. Most of his works were on religious and ...

, three

Raphael Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino (; March 28 or April 6, 1483April 6, 1520), now generally known in English as Raphael ( , ), was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. List of paintings by Raphael, His work is admired for its cl ...

s and

Rembrandt Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (; ; 15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669), mononymously known as Rembrandt was a Dutch Golden Age painter, printmaker, and Drawing, draughtsman. He is generally considered one of the greatest visual artists in ...

'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 criticism, literary critic, painter, social commentator, and philosopher. He is now considered one of the greatest critics and essayists in the history ...

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 (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

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. His early career as a painter was inf ...

– 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 Francis Ronald Egerton, 7th Duke of Sutherland (born 18 February 1940), known as Francis Ronald Egerton until 2000, is a British peer from the Egerton family. Family Sutherland is the son of Cyril Reginald Egerton, the grandson of Francis Eg ...

, 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 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 Art Fund (formerly the National Art Collections Fund) is an independent membership-based British charity, which raises funds to aid the acquisition of artworks for the nation. It gives grants and acts as a channel for many gifts and bequests, as ...

and on 19 November this was followed by £10 million from the National Heritage Memorial Fund. Speculation began when the original 31 December 2008 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 during the

2008 financial crisis The 2008 financial crisis, also known as the global financial crisis (GFC), was a major worldwide financial crisis centered in the United States. The causes of the 2008 crisis included excessive speculation on housing values by both homeowners ...

. There was also controversy over attempts to dilute the guarantee that the duke would sell no other paintings from the Sutherland Loan should the two Titians be bought. Finally, on 2 February 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 23 October 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

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 pigment which was originally made by grinding lapis lazuli into a powder. Its lengthy grinding and washing process makes the natural pigment quite valuable—roughly ten times more expensive than the stone it comes fr ...

vermilion Vermilion (sometimes vermillion) is a color family and pigment most often used between antiquity and the 19th century from the powdered mineral cinnabar (a form of mercury sulfide). It is synonymous with red orange, which often takes a moder ...

malachite Malachite () is a copper Carbonate mineral, carbonate hydroxide mineral, with the chemical formula, formula Basic copper carbonate, Cu2CO3(OH)2. This opaque, green-banded mineral crystallizes in the monoclinic crystal system, and most often for ...

verdigris Verdigris () is a common name for any of a variety of somewhat toxic copper salt (chemistry), salts of acetic acid, which range in colour from green to a blue-green, bluish-green depending on their chemical composition.H. Kühn, Verdigris and Cop ...

ochres Ochre ( ; , ), iron ochre, or ocher in American English, is a natural clay earth pigment, a mixture of ferric oxide and varying amounts of clay and sand. It ranges in colour from yellow to deep orange or brown. It is also the name of the col ...

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 is ...

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 Carmine ()also called cochineal (when it is extracted from the Cochineal, cochineal insect), cochineal extract, crimson Lake pigment, lake, or carmine lake is a pigment of a bright-red color obtained from the aluminium coordination complex, compl ...

.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 National (formerly the Scottish National Gallery) 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 William Henry Playfa ...

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 (Great Britain), townhouse of the Seymour family, Marquess of Hertford, Marquesses of Hertford. It is named after Sir Richard Wall ...

, 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 National Galleries Scotland Paintings by Titian in the National Gallery, London Paintings of Diana (mythology) Nude paintings of women 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) Pregnancy in art

History

Sutherland collection

National acquisition

Painting materials

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

See also

References

Sources

External links