Diana And Actaeon With Pan And Syrinx Analysis

In the Norton Art Museum in West Palm Beach, Florida, there is a beautiful painting called “Diana and Actaeon with Pan and Syrinx” by Valerio Castello. Valerio Castello was an Italian painter of the Baroque period. He was born in 1624 and died in 1659. His interest in painting grew and he began his apprenticeship with Domenico Fiasella. From there he travelled around a lot and painted many art works like “Rape of the Sabines,” and “Consolation of Saint Francis,” along with “Diana and Actaeon with Pan and Syrinx.” His works influenced the style and painting of many other artist like Domenico Piola and his pupils Bartolomeo Biscaino, Giovanni Paolo Cervetto, and Stefano Magnasco ("Valerio Castello”). In Castello’s painting “Diana and Actaeon with Pan and Syrinx,” the contextual story behind the figures is very important in understanding …show more content…
She was bathing in the woods naked when the skillful hunter Actaeon stumbled upon her bathing. Artemis was furious that he stared at her and turned him into a stag, a deer, and he ran away. As he ran his dogs that were hunting with him chased him down thinking he was pry and tore him to pieces (Wilson). In Valerio Castello’s painting of “Diana and Actaeon with Pan and Syrinx” the context of that story is very useful in understanding this painting. Another Greek mythological story that would bring helpful insight to this painting is that of Apollo and Daphne. Apollo was hit by one of Eros arrows of love after Apollo made fun of Eros archery skills, and chased after Daphne, daughter of Ladon the river God. Daphne prayed to another river god and was turned into a tree ("Daphne"). These two stories are evident in this painting, and almost seem to take on their own story. Castello uses almost all of the characters from those Greek stories and puts this in an intense setting, which is evident through the theatrical lighting, locked gazes and wild