Titian - Diana and Actaeon 1556-1559
Diana and Actaeon 1556-1559
185x202cm oil/canvas
Location: The National Gallery, London
Sold for: USD 70.6 million
Auction house: Private sale
Sale date: 1 February 2009
Seller: Duke of Sutherland
Buyer: National Galleries of Scotland & National Gallery, London
From The National Gallery, Trafalgar Square, London:
Diana and Actaeon is one of six large mythologies that Titian produced for King Philip II of Spain between 1549–62. The project seems to have been conceived when Titian met Philip, first at Milan in 1548, and then at the Imperial Diet at Augsburg in the winter of 1550–1, on both of which occasions he also painted the prince’s portrait.
Titian was allowed exceptional freedom in choosing the subjects, which are drawn from Ovid’s 'Metamorphoses'. The commission stimulated him to create the most ambitious and magnificent works of his entire career. Titian coined the term ‘poesie’ for his elegiac compositions, because he regarded them as the visual equivalents of poetry.