Jacob Jordaens - Diana and Callisto
Jacob Jordaens
Diana and Callisto
Oil on panel. 53,5 x 75,2 cm.
Jordaen's painting "Diana and Callisto" was made known to a wider audience through the exhibition "Jordaens and Antiquity" in Brussels and Kassel in 2013. It is a late work of the master, which can be dated to the 1670s, as recent technological examination by the Jordaens Van Dyck Panel Paintings Project (JVDPPP) have revealed.
The panel painting, which has long been in private ownership in Belgium, bears a wax seal from the renowned Parisian gallery Charles Brunner, which existed until 1925. Irene Schaudies published the painting in her catalogue entry "Monumental Cabinet Pieces" together with other paintings from the 1640s. Although not small or medium in format, these paintings use proportions and themes "typical of cabinet pieces - figures that appear rather small in comparison to the pictures they appear in and mythological scenes embedded in atmospheric landscapes." (exhib. cat. "Jordaes und die Antike", 2013, p. 232). All of the paintings bear testimony to Jordaens' interest in antiquity and the Italian Renaissance. Although the artist never travelled to Italy, he found access to Italian art through Rubens.
The theme of Diana discovering the pregnancy of her unchaste nymph Callisto was popular in Flemish painting and was often depicted by Hendrick van Balen (1575-1632), a cabinet painter much admired by Jordaens. However, Jordaens based his composition on a copy by Rubens of Titian's painting "Diana and Callisto" and borrowed some of his female figures from it (see I. Schaudies, in: exhib. cat. 2013, p. 237). Jordaens also based his depiction of "Diana and Actaeon" in the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Dresden (ill 1; inv. no. 999) on a pictorial invention by Titian. At 53.5 x 75.5 cm, this painting has almost identical dimensions to the present work. The thematic context also allows for the assumption that it could be the counterpart to it. The painting "Nymphs Cutting Off Pan's Beard" (The Hague, Mauritshuis, inv. no. 849) has also been thought to be a counterpart to "Diana and Callisto", although the format, subject and composition do not match.
Jordaens depicted the present subject once more in another, closely related version with larger dimensions (Ill. 2; 81 x 120 cm). This "Diana and Callisto" is painted on canvas and is in the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando, Madrid (inv. no. 1427). Several preparatory drawings can be directly related to the group of figures around Callisto. One of these is in the National Gallery in Edinburgh and another in the Boijmans Van Beuningen Museum, Rotterdam.
We would like to thank Dr Joost Vander Auwera, Director of the JVDPPP, for his guidance in editing this catalogue text.
Certificate
Prof Dr Roger-Adolf d'Hulst, 14th November 1967.
Provenance
Galerie Brunner, Paris (red wax seal of the gallery on the back of the panel). – Private collection, Kortrijk, Belgium, 1960. – Acquired by the current owner in 2010.
Literature
R-A d'Hulst: Enkele onbekende schilderijen van Jakob Jordaens, in: Gentse Bijdragen tot de Kunstgeschiedenis en de Oudheidlunde, XIX,1961-1966, p.90, fig. 8. - R.-A. d'Hulst: Jacob Jordaens, Antwerpen, 1982, p. 335, note 56 and p. 345. - Irene Schaudies: Monumentale Kabinettstücke, in: Exhib. cat. Jordaens und die Antike, Brussels, 2012, p. 231-247, cat. no. 87, p. 237 with ill.- Hans Vlieghe: Jordaens and the Antique, in: The Burlington magazine, January 2013, p. 58-59. - Michel Ceuterick: Jordaens and the Antique, in: Historians of Netherlandish Art Reviews, November 2013. - Jordaens Van Dyck Panel Paintings Project (JVDPPP): www.jordaensvandyck.com (Results of the dendrological examination conducted on the painting in 2018)
Exhibitions
Jordaens und die Antike, Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts, Brüssel, 12th October 2012 - 27th January 2013 and Museumslandschaft Hessen-Kassel, Kassel, 1st March - 16th June 2013, no. 87.
Jacob Jordaens
Diana and Callisto
Oil on panel. 53,5 x 75,2 cm.
Jordaen's painting "Diana and Callisto" was made known to a wider audience through the exhibition "Jordaens and Antiquity" in Brussels and Kassel in 2013. It is a late work of the master, which can be dated to the 1670s, as recent technological examination by the Jordaens Van Dyck Panel Paintings Project (JVDPPP) have revealed.
The panel painting, which has long been in private ownership in Belgium, bears a wax seal from the renowned Parisian gallery Charles Brunner, which existed until 1925. Irene Schaudies published the painting in her catalogue entry "Monumental Cabinet Pieces" together with other paintings from the 1640s. Although not small or medium in format, these paintings use proportions and themes "typical of cabinet pieces - figures that appear rather small in comparison to the pictures they appear in and mythological scenes embedded in atmospheric landscapes." (exhib. cat. "Jordaes und die Antike", 2013, p. 232). All of the paintings bear testimony to Jordaens' interest in antiquity and the Italian Renaissance. Although the artist never travelled to Italy, he found access to Italian art through Rubens.
The theme of Diana discovering the pregnancy of her unchaste nymph Callisto was popular in Flemish painting and was often depicted by Hendrick van Balen (1575-1632), a cabinet painter much admired by Jordaens. However, Jordaens based his composition on a copy by Rubens of Titian's painting "Diana and Callisto" and borrowed some of his female figures from it (see I. Schaudies, in: exhib. cat. 2013, p. 237). Jordaens also based his depiction of "Diana and Actaeon" in the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Dresden (ill 1; inv. no. 999) on a pictorial invention by Titian. At 53.5 x 75.5 cm, this painting has almost identical dimensions to the present work. The thematic context also allows for the assumption that it could be the counterpart to it. The painting "Nymphs Cutting Off Pan's Beard" (The Hague, Mauritshuis, inv. no. 849) has also been thought to be a counterpart to "Diana and Callisto", although the format, subject and composition do not match.
Jordaens depicted the present subject once more in another, closely related version with larger dimensions (Ill. 2; 81 x 120 cm). This "Diana and Callisto" is painted on canvas and is in the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando, Madrid (inv. no. 1427). Several preparatory drawings can be directly related to the group of figures around Callisto. One of these is in the National Gallery in Edinburgh and another in the Boijmans Van Beuningen Museum, Rotterdam.
We would like to thank Dr Joost Vander Auwera, Director of the JVDPPP, for his guidance in editing this catalogue text.
Certificate
Prof Dr Roger-Adolf d'Hulst, 14th November 1967.
Provenance
Galerie Brunner, Paris (red wax seal of the gallery on the back of the panel). – Private collection, Kortrijk, Belgium, 1960. – Acquired by the current owner in 2010.
Literature
R-A d'Hulst: Enkele onbekende schilderijen van Jakob Jordaens, in: Gentse Bijdragen tot de Kunstgeschiedenis en de Oudheidlunde, XIX,1961-1966, p.90, fig. 8. - R.-A. d'Hulst: Jacob Jordaens, Antwerpen, 1982, p. 335, note 56 and p. 345. - Irene Schaudies: Monumentale Kabinettstücke, in: Exhib. cat. Jordaens und die Antike, Brussels, 2012, p. 231-247, cat. no. 87, p. 237 with ill.- Hans Vlieghe: Jordaens and the Antique, in: The Burlington magazine, January 2013, p. 58-59. - Michel Ceuterick: Jordaens and the Antique, in: Historians of Netherlandish Art Reviews, November 2013. - Jordaens Van Dyck Panel Paintings Project (JVDPPP): www.jordaensvandyck.com (Results of the dendrological examination conducted on the painting in 2018)
Exhibitions
Jordaens und die Antike, Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts, Brüssel, 12th October 2012 - 27th January 2013 and Museumslandschaft Hessen-Kassel, Kassel, 1st March - 16th June 2013, no. 87.
