Goddess of the hunt, the daughter of Jupiter and Latona, and twin sister of Apollo. Diana's main trait is that she values her chastity. The crescent moon she wears on her head is one of her attributes, as are the nymphs and hunting dogs that accompany her. Among artworks that depict the goddess are Francesco Albani's Triumph of Diana (c. 1618; Rome, Galleria Borghese), which refers to the triumph of chastity; Domenichino's Diana and the Hunt (1617; Rome, Galleria Borghese), based on an episode in Virgil's Aeneid; and Benvenuto Cellini's Diana lunette relief, a sensuous nude meant as part of the décor in the Palace of Fontainebleau and now at the Louvre in Paris. Titian painted Diana and Actaeon (1559; Edinburgh, National Gallery of Scotland), the myth in which the hunter accidentally surprised the goddess at her bath. In retaliation, she transformed him into a stag to be mauled by his own dogs.
Historical dictionary of Renaissance art. Lilian H. Zirpolo. 2008.