(Venice 1579–1620)
Diana and Callisto,
oil on copper, 10 x 16 cm, framed

We are grateful to Francesca Cappelletti for suggesting the attribution of the present painting.

The present composition shows the moment when Diana punishes the nymph Callisto after discovering her pregnancy. According to Ovid (Metamorphosis II: 457–465), the nymph was Diana’s attendant and therefore sworn to chastity. Having been seduced by Jupiter and left pregnant, Callisto refused to undress and bathe at the spring, fearing that Diana would discover her betrayal.

In the background, the rounded form of the trees, emphasising the density of the undergrowth, recalls the work of Adam Elsheimer (1578–1610), who was of German origin, but active at Rome during the first decade of the seventeenth century. Saraceni was in the city during the same period, where he was influenced by the innovations in landscape painting promoted by Elsheimer. In response to the new call to naturalism, Saraceni developed an artistic style characterised by elegance and a particular attention to the narrative rendering of his subjects, which achieved a success for his work among Roman aristocratic patrons.

Works by Saraceni on copper of ‘paesi con piccole figure’, or ‘landscapes with little figures’, are recorded in Roman inventories and it is possible to date this work to between 1605 and 1610. It is possible that the painting once belonged to a larger series of mythological paintings, such as the celebrated group of small paintings now conserved in the Museo di Capodimonte, Naples, also depicting landscapes with stories from the Metamorphoses of Ovid, and executed during the first decade of the seventeenth century.