Landscape with Diana and Acteon
Jan Brueghel the Elder packs a whole lot of drama into this lush, shadowy forest scene from the Baroque period. The central figure is the goddess Diana, caught mid-bath by the unlucky hunter Actaeon, who you can spot arriving in the background cave. In Greek mythology, this is a terrible mistake—Diana is so furious at being seen that she transforms Actaeon into a deer, leading to him being eaten by his own dogs. Brueghel was famous for his incredible attention to nature, which you can see in the delicate flowers in the foreground contrasting with the dark, rocky grotto.
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