Léon Davent (after Francesco Primaticcio)
French printmaker, active 1540-1556 (Italian painter, sculptor, and architect, 1504-1570)
Diana and Her Nymphs Hunting a Stag
1547
Etching on laid paper
12 1/4 x 14 inches (31.115 x 35.56 centimeters)
Purchase: SOTA Print Fund, 1987.
1987.023.000

Fontainebleau was a center for the arts under the King François I from 1527 through his death in 1547. François promoted the current Italian style known as Mannerism, which was characterized by exaggerated figures and a rejection of the idealized classicism of the earlier Renaissance. The King hired Italian artists such as Rosso Fiorentino and Francesco Primaticcio to decorate the palace. They often employed themes from classical mythology. This etching by Léon Davent, based on a drawing by Primaticcio, places Diana, the Roman goddess of the hunt, in a French landscape.