Jacques d’Arthois (Brussels 1613-1683), circle
and a Figure Painter of the Brussels School (?), third quarter of the seventeenth century
Diana and Callisto in a Landscape
Oil on copper, 69.6 x 86.5 cm
The painting, showing Zeus disguised as Diana seducing the nymph Callisto (Ovid, Metamorphoses), can be assigned to the sphere of seventeenth-century Flemish painting, as evidenced by the composition, influenced by the ideas of Rubens, and the landscape, close to certain products of the Brussels art world, whose leading protagonist was Jacques d’Arthois. His work is exemplified here by a sense of openness and a vivid, luminous palette as well as some figurative elements like the serpentine trunks of the trees.
