Femme en Diane

Depicting a woman as Diana—goddess of the hunt, the moon, and chaste female sovereignty—was among Nattier's most frequently employed mythological conceits, and this early example from around 1710 establishes the template he would refine over the following decades. Diana portraits required specific attributes: the crescent moon worn at the brow, a bow and quiver, and typically a wooded or outdoor setting. The conceit allowed Nattier to present female sitters as simultaneously noble, virginal, and powerful—qualities that appealed across a broad range of aristocratic women, from royal daughters to provincial ladies seeking the prestige of a Paris-trained portraitist. This work, catalogued under the Musées Nationaux Récupération programme, was among artworks displaced during World War II and subsequently repatriated. The early date means the composition is somewhat more formal and less fluent than Nattier's later Diana portraits, but it already demonstrates his characteristic ability to blend real personality with mythological grandeur.

The crescent moon attribute and hunting accessories provide compositional focal points that Nattier balances against the sitter's face. Early career technique means stronger shadow in the drapery and a slightly more laboured surface compared to his later, more spontaneous-looking work.