Diana's Return from the Chase (from Set of Ovid's Metamorphoses)

Description

This tapestry’s elaborate border emulates a gilt picture frame, a key characteristic of eighteenth-century Gobelins tapestries. It portrays the goddess Diana at two distinct moments, during and following the hunt, the first accompanied by three dogs, and the second reclining among five attendants. The figures are positioned in a lush landscape near a small stream. A putto, poised to place an arrow in his bow, hovers above Diana. Goddess of the hunt and associated with wild animals and the moon, Diana can be identified by the crescent worn above her forehead. The dead hares indicate a successful hunt.

Provenance

Mrs. Matthias Plum (Bertha Andrews Rainey Plum) [1909-1976], New York, NY, gifted to the Cleveland Museum of Art (?–1956); The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (1956–)

Diana's Return from the Chase (from Set of Ovid's Metamorphoses)

Gobelins Manufactory

1704–1731

Accession Number

1956.325.1

Medium

tapestry weave

Dimensions

Overall: 322.5 x 326 cm (126 15/16 x 128 3/8 in.)

Classification

Tapestry

Museum

The Cleveland Museum of Art

Cleveland, United States

Credit Line

Gift of Mrs. Matthias Plum