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Diana and Cupid

1761
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 627
Sir Humphrey Morice (1723–1785), son of a wealthy merchant and director of the Bank of England, commissioned this image of the goddess of hunting. It hung as a pendant, or companion piece, to Batoni’s portrait of Morice re-clining in the Roman countryside next to his dogs, rifle, and dead game. Together, the works contrast modern and ancient Rome in the manner of Giovanni Paolo Panini’s two canvases found nearby. Diana’s distinctive pose is based on a famous ancient statue of the sleeping Cretan princess Ariadne. Batoni inserts a literal tension into this otherwise staid composition with the elegantly lifted bow, which Diana withholds from Cupid.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Diana and Cupid
  • Artist: Pompeo Batoni (Italian, Lucca 1708–1787 Rome)
  • Date: 1761
  • Medium: Oil on canvas
  • Dimensions: 49 x 68 in. (124.5 x 172.7 cm)
  • Classification: Paintings
  • Credit Line: Purchase, The Charles Engelhard Foundation, Robert Lehman Foundation Inc., Mrs. Haebler Frantz, April R. Axton, L. H. P. Klotz, and David Mortimer Gifts; and Gifts of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Wrightsman, George Blumenthal, and J. Pierpont Morgan, Bequests of Millie Bruhl Fredrick and Mary Clark Thompson, and Rogers Fund, by exchange, 1982
  • Object Number: 1982.438
  • Curatorial Department: European Paintings

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5096. Diana and Cupid

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More Artwork

More Artwork
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Allegory in Honor of Pope Benedict XIV, Pompeo Batoni Italian, Red chalk, highlighted with white, on beige paper
Allegory in Honor of Pope Benedict XIV
Pompeo Batoni
ca. 1745
Three Nude Male Figures; Study of the Right Hand of the Figure on the Left, Pompeo Batoni Italian, Red chalk
Three Nude Male Figures; Study of the Right Hand of the Figure on the Left
Pompeo Batoni
1708–87
Portrait of a Young Man, Pompeo Batoni Italian, Oil on canvas
Portrait of a Young Man
Pompeo Batoni
ca. 1760–65
Bust-Length Study of a Child, Pompeo Batoni Italian, Black chalk, hightlighted with white chalk
Bust-Length Study of a Child
Pompeo Batoni
1708–87
John Montagu, Lord Brudenell, Later Marquess of Monthermer, Pompeo Batoni Italian, Oil on canvas
Returned to lender
John Montagu, Lord Brudenell, Later Marquess of Monthermer
Pompeo Batoni
1758

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