Diana and Hecate
n.d.
Medium
Pen and brown ink
Dimensions
sheet: 9 13/16 x 7 7/8 in. (25 x 20 cm)
Classification
Drawings
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Purchase, C. G. Boerner and Mr. and Mrs. Alexander B. Slater Gifts, 2010
Accession Number
2010.164
Rights
Public Domain
Tags
Art Historical Context
Rosso Fiorentino’s *Diana and Hecate* is a dynamic pen-and-brown-ink drawing that captures the artist’s distinctive Mannerist sensibility. Active in sixteenth-century Florence and later at the French court, Rosso favored elongated forms, expressive gestures, and dramatic spatial arrangements. In this compact sheet—measuring roughly 25 by 20 centimeters—he explores the meeting of two powerful goddesses: Diana, protector of the hunt, and Hecate, mistress of magic and the night. The presence of horses among the tags suggests a lively equestrian motif, perhaps alluding to Diana’s chariot or a noct...
About the Artist
Rosso Fiorentino · 1494–1540
Italian, Florence 1494–1540 Fontainebleau