Diana Bathing

This drawing was reproduced in reverse by the French engraver Bernard Picart (1673-1733) as the work of Domenichino when it figured in his 1734 book of reproductive prints from the "cabinet de Mr. Uilenbroek." At Chatsworth there is a related drawing, also traditionally attributed to Domenichino, in which the nude Diana is represented seated (inv. 507). The Chatsworth drawing comes from the Dutch collection of Nicolaes Anthoni Flink (1646-172; Lugt 959), and thus, like our drawing, it was in Amsterdam in the early eighteenth century. Both these drawings would seem to be the work of Albani, an attribution strongly endorsed by Ann Sutherland Harris (see Sutherland Harris 1969 and 1996). The rather dry pen work and the somewhat mannered elongation of the figures are paralleled in a ‘Death of Adonis’ in the British Museum, London, a drawing traditionally attributed to Albani (inv. 1895,0915.697). Old copies of the Metropolitan Museum and the Chatsworth drawings are preserved in the Musée du Louvre (Départment des Arts Graphiques, inv. 12,106 and 12,107, both as Albani).