Landscape with Diana Resting
1526–50
Medium
Etching
Dimensions
Sheet (trimmed): 6 3/8 × 9 3/8 in. (16.2 × 23.8 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Harris Brisbane Dick Fund and The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, by exchange, 1954
Accession Number
54.640.9
Rights
Public Domain
Tags
Art Historical Context
Created around the mid-16th century, *Landscape with Diana Resting* is an elegant etching by the French printmaker Léon Davent. Measuring just over nine inches wide, the print captures the Roman goddess of the hunt in a moment of quiet repose amid a wooded landscape, accompanied by her loyal deer and hounds. Davent’s delicate linework and atmospheric treatment of trees and terrain reflect the growing popularity of landscape as a subject in its own right during the Renaissance. Etching was still a relatively new medium in France at this time, prized for its ability to render fine detail and tonal subtlety without the labor of engraving. Prints such as this one allowed mythological imagery—here drawn from classical sources—to reach a wider audience beyond courtly circles. The Metropolitan’s impression, acquired through a combination of funds in 1954, preserves the intimate scale and refined technique that made Davent’s work admired among collectors of the period.
About the Artist
Léon Davent · 1540–1556
**Léon Davent** (also known as Master L.D. or the monogrammist L.D.) was a French printmaker active in the mid-16th century, best known for his work in both engraving and etching. He played a leading role in the printmaking workshop associated with the First School of Fontainebleau at the Palace of Fontainebleau during the 1540s. His prints, often signed simply “L.D.,” reproduced designs by Italia...