"Diane Chasseresse," School of Fontainebleau.
The painting shows Diana while hunting. The peculiar crescent moon on her forehead symbolizes her being a moon goddess.
Click on image for full size
The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri. (Purchase: Nelson Trust).
Diana
Diana was an ancient Italian goddess of woodland. In Capua and in Aricia, a locality near Rome, there are still shrines dedicated to the old Italian goddess.
Diana was the twin sister of the god
Apollo. Her father and mother
were
Jupiter and Latona.
Diana believed her body was very sacred, and so no man was to see her naked. One day a wandering hunter came across Diana bathing. She became very angry, and turned him into a stag.
She was always surrounded by young beautiful attendants, who used to hunt with her. Romans identified Diana with the Greek goddess Artemis. As Artemis, she was also a Moon goddess.
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