Diana Reposing. Paul Baudry
The nude goddess, identified by the crescent moon in her hair and the bow and quiver at her side, reclines on a blue drapery in front of a recumbent stag in a wooded glade. An early inscription identifies this painting as a variant sketch for an overdoor in the hôtel of Achille Fould, the Minster of State. The hôtel, on the rue du Faubourg-Saint-Honoré, was acquired by the Duc d'Aumale in 1872, and its decor was transferred to the Château of Chantilly six years later. The overdoor, "Diane au repos," and another, "Venus jouant avec l'Amour," were both mounted in the Galerie des Cerfs. The actual overdoor is painted in "grisaille" unlike our sketch which is in naturalistic colors. In the overdoor the majestic stag is an integral part of the composition, whereas in this sketch he is barely discernible in the right background. This composition illustrates the artist's practice of imparting to his traditional subjects an air of modishness or coquetry, that may have resulted from his occasional use of professional beauties as models. The figure of Diana reposing in the sketch and the overdoor bears a striking resemblance to Blanche D'Antigny, an actress who at the age of eighteen modeled for Baudry's famous "The Penitent Madeleine," painted about the same time and acquired by the State at the 1859 Salon for the Nantes Museum.
circa 1859
oil on mahogany wood
Height: 35.24 cm (13.9 in). Width: 59.53 cm (23.4 in). Depth: 1.27 cm (0.5 in). ; with frame: Height: 49.05 (19.3 in). Width: 73.03 cm (28.8 in). Depth: 4.45 cm (1.8 in).
Walters Art Museum
Accession number 37.12
Place of creation France
Object history
Théophile Gautier Sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, January 14-16, 1873, no. 5
Francois Thiébault-Sisson Sale, Paris, 1903
1903: purchased by Henry Walters, Baltimore
[through G. A. Lucas]
1931: bequeathed to Walters Art Museum by Henry Walters
Exhibition history A Baltimorean in Paris: George A. Lucas, 1860-1909. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. 1979. Théophile Gautier dans son cadre. Musée de I'Île-de France, Sceaux. 2011-2012.
Credit line Acquired by Henry Walters, 1903
Inscriptions Signature bottom right in gold paint: PB
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