Diana and Virtus Punish Venus and Bacchus
T. van Malsen
1694
Medium
oil on canvas
Dimensions
7.5; 157; 192; 40
About this artwork
buitenmaat: diepte 7,5 cm (drager incl. SK-L-3658)
Art Historical Context
**Diana and Virtus Punish Venus and Bacchus** (1694) by T. van Malsen is a grand oil-on-canvas allegory measuring an imposing 192 x 157 cm, now housed in the Rijksmuseum. This late Baroque work dramatizes a moral clash from classical mythology: the chaste huntress Diana and the personification of Virtue (Virtus) triumph over the sensual deities Venus, goddess of love, and Bacchus, god of wine and revelry. Painted at the tail end of the Dutch Golden Age, it reflects the era's fascination with emblematic scenes that extolled restraint and piety amid a society recovering from wars and economic sh...