Palma Vecchio - Diana and Callisto

• Title: Diana and Callisto
• Artist: Palma Vecchio (1480-1528)
• Date: c.1525-28
• Medium: Oil on panel
• Dimensions: 78 x 124 cm

"Diana and Callisto" portrays the moment in which the goddess Diana discovers that her maid Callisto has become pregnant by Jupiter. The theme of the naked woman lying in the open air has been at home in Venice since Giorgione and the early Titian. However, the emphasis has never been so clearly on the sculptural elaboration, on the linear contours of the female figures, which are intricately assigned to one another. Here Palma adopted movement motifs from ancient sculptures and drew from the repertoire of his Mannerist contemporaries such as Giulio Romano. The sensual surface texture common in Venice has given way to porcelain-like coolness.