Diana Bathing

Rembrandt's 1631 Diana Bathing is an early mythological work that reveals his interest in the female nude during the Leiden-to-Amsterdam transitional period. Diana, goddess of the hunt and moon, surprised bathing was a well-established mythological subject — Actaeon's fatal intrusion provided the narrative pretext — but Rembrandt rendered the goddess without the idealisation typical of Italian or Flemish treatments of the theme. His Diana is recognisably Dutch in physique, following the aesthetic he would develop more fully in later works such as the Bathsheba and the Berlin Susanna. The painting represents an early experiment with the nude that would preoccupy him for the rest of his career.

The figure is positioned at the water's edge, the body illuminated in warm golden light against a dark wooded background. Rembrandt models the flesh with short, directional strokes, avoiding the smooth blending of Italian academic practice. The landscape setting is loosely handled, subordinate to the figure.