Images(4)

Diana

Maker Jean-Antoine Houdon (French, 1741 - 1828)

Collections

European Sculpture Highlights

ClassificationsSCULPTURE

Date1782

Mediumbronze

Dimensions82 in. (208.3 cm.)

DescriptionThis life-size bronze sculpture portrays Diana, the Roman goddess of the hunt.

SignedSigned, dated, and inscribed in wax before casting on proper left side of square base. The final part of the inscription (shown here in brackets) has been effaced with small brass plugs which fill the letters and have been hammered and polished flat on the surface: HOUDON F. 1782./ POUR Jn. GIRARDOT DE MARIGNY. [NEGOCIANT A PARIS]

Credit LineThe Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens. The Arabella D. Huntington Memorial Art Collection.

Status

On view

Label TextStanding over six feet tall and weighing 747 pounds, this was Houdon’s first life-size bronze sculpture. It was commissioned by the wealthy banker Jean Girardot de Marigny, whose name is inscribed on the base, for the garden of his Paris mansion. Houdon’s decision to portray Diana, the goddess of the hunt, wearing nothing but a crescent moon in her hair, was highly unusual in the 18th century. Diana was usually portrayed as a nude bather or a clothed huntress. Houdon combines the two forms, and in doing so evokes the classical tradition of a Diana who is both chastely nude and in hot pursuit of her quarry.

Object number27.186