Diana and her Nymphs hunting
1636 - 1637.Room 079
Recognizable by the crescent-moon-shaped diadem on her head, Diana hunts deer with spears and dogs, accompanied by various nymphs. The extremely horizontal composition is one of the peculiarities of this work, which belongs to an important sect of sketches made by Rubens for the pictorial decoration of the Torre de la Parada. On these small panels, the painter defined the design, colors, forms and structure of the future work so that one of his assistants could make the definitive canvas. Of all the surviving works from this set, the present may be one of the most significant due to its special dynamism and expressivity.