Diana and the nymphs

HENDRICK GOLTZIUS (1558-1617) (drawing and engraving);

FRANCO ESTIUS (active between 1545-1594) (verses);

VISSCHER (editor)

Print from Ovid’s Metamorphoses. Haarlem, 1589-1615.

Etching and burin on laid paper.

Good condition. Full margins. From a Spanish collector from the XVII century.

Ref.: Bartsch III, 0302.31-70.

Diana’s retinue was made up of nymphs, minor deities often associated with springs, grottoes or forests. They shared with the goddess that quality of eternal youth, and like her they were virgins, although her chastity was constantly threatened by mortals, gods and other wild genies such as satyrs.

The representation of the hidden refuges where those young women abandoned themselves in a careless toilet, equates the viewer’s gaze with that of any of her most unsuspecting suitors, who frequently paid with death for their voyeuristic daring.