''Diana Bathing with her Nymphs with Actaeon and Callisto'' is a 1634 painting by the Dutch painter

Rembrandt van Rijn Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (, ; 15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669), usually simply known as Rembrandt, was a Dutch Golden Age painter, printmaker and draughtsman. An innovative and prolific master in three media, he is generally consi ...

. It is now in the

Salm-Salm The Principality of Salm-Salm (german: Fürstentum Salm-Salm; french: Principauté de Salm-Salm) was a state of the Holy Roman Empire. It was located in the present-day French departments of Bas-Rhin and Vosges; it was one of a number of partitions ...

princely collection in the Wasserburg Anholt in Anholt,

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. It shows two episodes 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 ...

'', in both of which someone is punished by the goddess Diana for a sexual offence. On the left, Actaeon is punished for seeing the goddess naked by being turned into a stag and killed by his own hounds. On the right, Diana's other nymphs are tearing off

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 ...

's clothing to reveal how she has broken her vow of chastity and is now carrying

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 ...

's child. For this, Diana expels her from her court and she later gives birth to Arcas before being turned into a bear by

Juno Juno commonly refers to: *Juno (mythology), the Roman goddess of marriage and queen of the gods *Juno (film), ''Juno'' (film), 2007 Juno may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Fictional characters *Juno, in the film ''Jenny, Juno'' *Ju ...

, whom Arcas almost kills whilst hunting. Unusually, the painting also includes an image of an elderly couple unrelated to either of the two stories (background) and a middle-aged nymph (in the foreground).

Bibliography

*W. Busch: ''Das keusche und das unkeusche Sehen, Rembrandts „Diana, Aktäon und Kallisto“'', in: ''Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte'', Bd. 52, München 1989, S. 257-277. *S. Grohé: ''Rembrandts mythologische Historien'', Köln 1996, S. 195-223. () *C. Janicek: ''Rembrandts "Bad der Diana mit Aktäon und Kallisto"'', Diplomarbeit, Universität Wien, 2004. *E. J. Sluijter: ''De 'Heydensche Fabulen' in de Noordnederlandse Schilderkunst circa 1590-1670. Een proeve van beschrijving en interpretatie van schilderijen met verhalende onderwerpen uit de klassieke mythologie'', Dissertation, Leiden 1986. *A. W. Vliegenthart, ''Einige Bemerkungen zu Rembrandts Aktäon und Kallisto'', in: ''Nederlands Kunsthistorisch Jaarboek'', 23, 1972, S. 85-94. {{ACArt 1634 paintings Mythological paintings by Rembrandt Paintings depicting Diana (mythology) Paintings in North Rhine-Westphalia Dogs in art Bathing in art Paintings based on Metamorphoses Callisto (mythology)