Diana the Huntress
School of Fontainebleau, Mid-16th century
Canvas

"Of unknown authorship, the Diana the Huntress is the archetype of the Bellifontain ideal flourishing in 16th century France, under the influence of Italian masters summoned by François I to the Château of Fontainebleau from 1530 (Rosso, Primatice). Some have seen this as a metaphorical portrait of Diane de Poitiers (1499-1566), mistress of Henri II, during the flourishing period around 1500, when the Château d'Anet was being built. It testifies to a taste for mythological nudes, in which drawing and a Mannerist-style elongated and contorted body are predominant."

Musée du Louvre. Paris >> http://www.louvre.fr/