Diana and Endymion
Canvas
130,5x156,5 inch
Diana (or Artemis), goddess of the hunt, is presented here with her bow and a quiver, with a crescent moon and a halo of stars on her forehead. Falling in love with the handsome Endymion, who grazed the herds on Mount Latmos, she went down each night to the cave where the shepherd slept to watch him and be close to him, in silence. Francesco de Mura, who is one of the major Italian artists of the Neapolitan XNUMXth century, offers a classicizing version of the Baroque of his master Solimena, without ignoring in his mythological subjects the influence of French painters of his time.
Another version of this composition is kept at Palazzo Madame in Turin, dated after 1743, that is to say after his work at the Royal Palace in Turin and his return to Naples (129 x 155 cm, acquired in 1969). The Zeri photo library keeps photographs of other non-precisely located versions, one horizontal and the other vertical
(scheda n° 63795 -123 x 148 cm - and 63796).
The attribution to Francesco De Mura has been confirmed by Professor Nicola Spinosa
by email
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