Jupiter, Disguised as Diana, Seducing the Nymph Callisto

De Wit's Jupiter Disguised as Diana Seducing the Nymph Callisto from 1727 is the pendant to the Mnemosyne picture, depicting another of Jupiter's metamorphic seductions: his assumption of Diana's form to gain access to the chaste nymph Callisto, who subsequently bears him Arcas. The subject — Jupiter's deception as a female deity — required the painter to depict the disguised god in female guise engaging in an ambiguous intimate scene with Callisto, a combination of mythological learning and erotic implication well suited to the private decorative programs of prosperous Amsterdam merchants.

The composition places the disguised Jupiter-as-Diana in close physical proximity with Callisto, the intimacy of their exchange creating a charged but gracefully handled scene. De Wit's light palette and refined figure drawing give the mythological subject an airiness appropriate to its decorative function.