Diana leaving her Bath

The goddess of the hunt rests for a moment after her bath, pale skin glowing against blue silk and green shade. Boucher painted this quiet scene in 1742, and the Louvre has kept it since 1852.

The story behind the painting

Diana Bathing, also called Diana Getting out of her Bath, is an oil on canvas painted by the French artist François Boucher in 1742. It is a small work, about 56 by 73 cm. It shows the Roman goddess Diana, the huntress, at a private moment just after she has stepped out of the water, with one nymph as her only companion. The painting was acquired by the Louvre in Paris in 1852 and belongs to its Department of Paintings, where it remains one of the best known images of the Rococo goddess.

What to look for

Diana sits naked in the foreground on silks that set off her fair skin and blonde hair. She is recognised by the crown of pearls she wears, with a crescent-shaped jewel. A dark-haired nymph kneels at her feet, on the left of the canvas, looking at the goddess's legs. The bright skin takes on reddish reflections against the bluish green of the landscape. Her quiver of arrows, two hunting dogs and some prey confirm who she is. On the left, one dog drinks from the pond she has just left while the other turns its head.

Meaning and intent

Boucher plays with contrasts. The silk under Diana stands for luxury and stands out against the rural countryside around her, as her pale body stands out against the cool greens. Among the hunted animals are two doves, symbols of love that were more often an attribute of Venus, the goddess of love; Boucher used a similar motif in his Venus Consoling Love. The result is a huntress caught off duty, her weapons and catch set aside, painted with the soft sensuality that makes the scene feel intimate rather than heroic.

Legacy

The painting has inspired later artists to answer it. In 1987 the painter Herman Braun-Vega reworked it in his Diane des tropiques, placing two nude mixed-race women, also coming out of the bath, in front of Diana and her nymph. Through this addition he expressed the arrival of a multiracial and multicultural world. He repeated the idea in 1989 in La danse (Boucher, Matisse), crossing Boucher's picture with a painting by Matisse. Boucher's goddess thus became a starting point for a conversation about who is seen in art.