The Death of Actaeon

Titian (circa 1485/90 - 1576)

National Gallery

1559

Ovid described how Actaeon accidentally came upon Diana naked, while out hunting and was changed by her into a stag and killed by his own hounds. The treatment of the landscape, which was always greatly admired, is of a freedom which was not fully achieved again until the 19th century. Purchased after a successful public appeal by the gallery.

• Medium: oil on canvas
• Dimensions: 178 x 198 cm
• Art Fund Grant: £100000 ( Total: £1,763,000; Export stopped)
• ArtFunded in: 1972
• Vendor: Christie's

Provenance

Painted for Phillip II of Spain, but not know if it ever reached the King; Archduke Leopold William, Brussels; Queen Christina of Sweden; Dukes of Orleans, Paris; Sir Abraham Hume; the Earls of Brownlow; the Earls of Harewood; Christie's; J.Paul Getty Museum.

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