page_title: Diana (mythology)
section_title: In painting and sculpture
hierarchical_section_title: Diana (mythology) / Legacy / In the arts / In painting and sculpture
caption_attribution_description: Images of the Goddesses Pomona (left) and Diana (right) together decorate the entrance to The Peninsula Hotel, occupying a Beaux-Arts building (originally The Gotham hotel, Hiss and Weekes, architects) at Fifth Ave. and 55th St., New York City. Here, Pomona (Goddess of Orchards) carries a cornucopia; in other images she is represented carrying a platter of fruit. Diana, as Goddess of the Hunt, carries her usual bow and arrows In the context of commercial buildings of the late 19th and early 20th century these decorations may be thought of as symbols representing respectively agriculture and commerce, for agriculture formed the foundation for much of the wealth of the time and commerce (as is industry) is a perpetual hunt for profits and advantage. The Gotham was one of the first hotels in New York to use steel-frame construction and was for a short time time the city's tallest skyscraper. The entire façade appeared to have been recently cleaned and so the sculptures were doubly beautiful. Of special note (and characteristic of Beaux Arts) is the naturalism of the images; note that Diana is resting her hand upon the more formal building decorations - in much the same way as would a person sitting at that location. Rather than being a mere decoration, the images are characteristically sculptural in their representation of life. The clinging draperies of the figures can also be seen in classic Greek sculptures such as the Elgin marbles removed from the Parthenon, but here are rendered in a more abstract and less detailed manner, which may be considered to be more suitable to the scale and viewpoint and hence more modern than the classic sculptural prototypes.
context_page_description: Diana is a goddess in Roman and Hellenistic religion, primarily considered a patroness of the countryside, hunters, crossroads, and the Moon. She is equated with the Greek goddess Artemis, and absorbed much of Artemis' mythology early in Roman history, including a birth on the island of Delos to parents Jupiter and Latona, and a twin brother, Apollo, though she had an independent origin in Italy.
  Diana is considered a virgin goddess and protector of childbirth. Historically, Diana made up a triad with two other Roman deities: Egeria the water nymph, her servant and assistant midwife; and Virbius, the woodland god.
  Diana is revered in modern neopagan religions including Roman neopaganism, Stregheria, and Wicca. From the medieval to the modern period, as folklore attached to her developed and was eventually adapted into neopagan religions, the mythology surrounding Diana grew to include a consort and daughter, figures sometimes recognized by modern traditions. In the ancient, medieval, and modern periods, Diana has been considered a triple deity, merged with a goddess of the moon and the underworld.
context_section_description: Diana has been one of the most popular themes in art. Painters like Titian, Peter Paul Rubens, François Boucher, Nicholas Poussin and made use of her myth as a major theme. Most depictions of Diana in art featured the stories of Diana and Actaeon, or Callisto, or depicted her resting after hunting. Some famous work of arts with a Diana theme are:
  Diana and Actaeon, Diana and Callisto, and Death of Actaeon by Titian.
  Diana and Callisto, Diana Returning from the Hunt, Diana Resting After a Bath, and Diana Getting Out of Bath by François Boucher.
  Diana Bathing With Her Nymphs by Rembrandt.
  Diana and Endymion by Poussin.
  Diana and Callisto, Diana and Her Nymph Departing From Hunt, Diana and Her Nymphs Surprised By A Faun by Rubens.
  Diana and Endymion by Johann Michael Rottmayr.
  Diana Wounded, bronze statue by Sir Edgar Bertram Mackennal, housed in Tate Gallery of London (purchased 1908).
  The famous fountain at Palace of Caserta, Italy, created by Paolo Persico, Brunelli, Pietro Solari, depicting Diana being surprised by Acteon.
  A sculpture by Christophe-Gabriel Allegrain can be seen at the Musée du Louvre.
  Diana of the Tower a copper statue by Augustus Saint-Gaudens was created as the weather vane for the second Madison Square Garden in 1893. It now is on display at the Philadelphia Museum of Art
  A sculpture by French sculptor François-Léon Sicard in the Archibald Fountain, Sydney NSW Australia
  In Parma at the convent of San Paolo, Antonio Allegri da Correggio painted the chamber of the Abbess Giovanna Piacenza's apartment. He was commissioned in 1519 to paint the ceiling and mantel of the fireplace. On the mantel he painted an image of Diana riding in a chariot possibly pulled by a stag.
  Fuente de la Diana Cazadora [Fountain of the Huntress Diana], a fountain sculpture of huntress Diana with arrow pointing skyward, stands in the roundabout at Paseo de la Reforma, Zona Rosa, Mexico City's Mexican Federal District.
  Beaux Arts architecture and garden design (late 19th and early 20th centuries) used classic references in a modernized form. Two of the most popular of the period were of Pomona (goddess of orchards) as a metaphor for Agriculture, and Diana, representing Commerce, which is a perpetual hunt for advantage and profits.
caption: Pomona (left, symbolizing agriculture), and Diana (symbolizing commerce) as building decoration
exif: {}