Jagd der Diana

Painted in 1879 at the height of Makart's fame in Vienna, Jagd der Diana (Hunt of Diana) revisits the ancient goddess of the hunt in the spirit of theatrical Romanticism rather than strict classical learning. By 1879 Makart had already achieved celebrity status through enormous canvases displayed in his legendary studio, which functioned as an artistic salon drawing the Viennese elite. His Diana inhabits a lush, semi-tropical landscape filled with writhing hounds, nymphs, and the flash of golden light through foliage — a world closer to the sensuous decorative tradition of Rubens than to the cool Neoclassical interpretations of earlier decades. The mythological hunting goddess had been depicted since antiquity, but Makart's version emphasises physical abandon and chromatic exuberance over narrative clarity. The Bavarian State Painting Collections holds the work alongside other large-format Makart canvases, testament to the cross-border appeal of his theatrical historicism. The 1879 date also coincides with the imperial pageant he designed for the Ringstrasse celebrations, suggesting an artist at the apex of his decorative powers.

Oil on canvas with rich impasto in the sunlit passages and thin, fluid glazes in the shadowed undergrowth. Makart's palette here favours warm amber and copper tones offset by deep forest greens, with swift gestural strokes animating the hounds' fur and the nymphs' flowing drapery.