French or Italian school; second half of the 18th century.

French or Italian school; second half of the 18th century.
"Diana".
Oil on canvas.
Presents faults.
Measurements: 32 x 39 cm.
This painting is located in a key moment of transition in the history of European art, when the late Baroque language dialogues with the Rococo sensibility and the first impulses of Neoclassicism. The result is an image of great visual refinement, where classical myth becomes a vehicle for aesthetic pleasure and erudition.
The scene represents Diana, Roman goddess of hunting and nature, in an arcadian and sensual environment. Her reclining figure, accompanied by little love birds (putti) and animals associated with her sphere, the deer and the dogs, refers to an idealized vision of the mythological world, closer to contemplative enjoyment than to the heroic severity of Antiquity. The presence of the putti introduces a playful and dynamic tone, softening the solemnity of the myth and reinforcing the allegorical reading linked to fertility, nature and the harmony between the human and the divine.
The pictorial style reveals a clear affinity with the taste of the eighteenth century: fluid composition, curvilinear rhythms and a loose brushstroke that favors atmosphere over minute detail. The palette, dominated by warm tones, pinks and soft greens, contributes to create an enveloping scene, while the treatment of the flesh tones underlines the rococo influence, especially noticeable in the representation of children's bodies and in the idealization of the female nude.