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Diana, identified as Artemis in Greek
mythology was a goddess of hunting and archery but paradoxically
in the confusion of Greek myths she was also the defender of
wild animals, children and weak things. During The Renaissance
and through the 18th century she became a favorite subject for
poets, painters and sculptors who thought of her as the chaste
goddess, the moon goddess, the goddess of the hunt. Painters
and sculptors usually identified her by the bow which she carried
and the quiver of arrows at her side. To imply her striding movement
and to depict the delicacy of the bow challenged the skill of
the sculptors. The theme of Diana and her following nymphs, perhaps
popularized in France by Cellini's Nymph of Fontainebleau (circa
1545), was to have unbroken popularity with French sculptors.
Graceful depictions of the goddess were executed by Pilon, Houdon,
Rude, Coysevox; even the American sculptor Saint-Gaudens. The
unidentified sculptor of the reproduction pictured here has accepted
the challenge head-on, depicting the huntress with bow flexed
and arrow prepared for release. |
