Diana and Actaeon and Diana and Callisto - Titian

Diana and Actaeon- 1556-1559,Titian, Oil on canvas, 190.3x 207 cm  and Diana and Callisto - 1556-1559, Titian, Oil on canvas, 188 x 206 cm

Of the ten major mythological paintings that Titian created for King Philip of Spain,  Diana and Actaeon, and Diana and Callisto are said to be the most coherent of the pairs. Both of these paintings depict those who have betrayed Diana, the chaste goddess, in some way and the punishment that she bestows upon them. In Diana and Actaeon, Actaeon (the man on the left) stumbles upon Diana bathing. As punishment for laying eyes on her, Diana splashes Actaeon in the face, turning him into a stag for his own hounds to chase and then feast upon. 

In content Diana and Callisto is very similar. As one of Diana's nymphs Callisto also has committed to a life of virtue and chastity. However the god Jupiter wanted to sleep with Callisto, so he disguised himself as Diana, and forced her to betray her vow, thereby impregnating her. When she refused to undress to bathe with the other nymphs, Diana ordered her to undress and reveal her transgressions. Callisto was then expelled from the goddesses company, and turned into a bear in the wilderness. 

When looking at visual similarities, the first thing that might strike the viewer is the composition. Both groupings are nearly the same, and feature water at the base of the canvas, figures in the middle along with sculptural elements, and then landscape in the upper half of the canvas. One difference however, is that Titian enclosed the figures in Diana and Actaeon within a Gothic structure that seems to blend right in with the forest around it, where as in Diana and Callisto there are no architectural elements besides the fountain in the center. Also, both paintings depict the most climatic moment in both myths, that of the discovery. Titian ties to two paintings together by the stag motif. In Diana and Actaeon a stag skull hangs among the trees, a premonition of what is to come for Actaeon; in Diana and Callisto the fountain also features a stag, which references previous punishments executed by Diana. Titian also ties the two paintings together by painting in diagonally slung curtain, which serve almost as a frame, telling the viewer that the two paintings are meant to be viewed together. 

As for the style, Titian's brushwork is highly evident within these two paintings, creating a sense of luxury and wildness to the surrounding nature. This separates this pair from his previous mythological paintings such as Bacchus and Ariadne , where his strokes where much more smooth and created almost gem-like surfaces. These two paintings suggest a wildness, fierceness, and potential decay that its predecessors did not. Which may lead the viewer to questioning Diana, despite her virtuous intent, perhaps she is much too severe.