Diana and Actaeon

Under the patronage of Francis I, the Royal Palace of Fontainebleau was decorated with paintings and stucco-work by Italian Mannerist artists. A print workshop was also established there to record and publicize the achievements of the masters working at the isolated palace. Jean Mignon was one of the principal printmakers of the Fontainebleau School; this splendid etching, based on a drawing by Luca Penni, displays the extreme elegance and refined, attenuated figures of the Fontainebleau style.

When the young hunter Actaeon stumbles upon the bathing Diana in Ovid’s Metamorphoses, he surprises the chaste goddess, who subsequently splashes water upon him. This print depicts the ensuing moments, in which Actaeon, on the left, is transformed into a deer, and Diana’s nymphs, on the right, attempt to shield their goddess. Based on a drawing by Luca Penni, this etching’s graceful lines and attention to decoration aptly demonstrate Mignon’s participation in the first School of Fontainebleau.