Diana Bathing with her Nymphs with Actaeon and Callisto

Diana Bathing with her Nymphs with Actaeon and Callisto is a mythological scene depicted by many artists from the Renaissance and Baroque periods

Rembrandt completed his own version in 1634 although there were also several other drawings and etchings that took in the same theme. This particular painting can now be found at the Wasserburg Anholt, Isselburg as part of the Salm-Salm princely collection.

This complex painting combines two parts of Ovid's Metamorphoses series of tales and then adds some unrelated additional figures on top. The left hand side outlines Actaeon's punishment as he is turned into a stag and then killed by his own dogs. Other artists to have taken the work of Ovid into their own art include Pablo Picasso in his Blind Minotaur, Spinners by Diego Velazquez and Titian's Death of Actaeon and Diana and Callisto.

On the opposing side of the canvas you will then see Diana's nymphs revealing Callisto's rape by Jupiter and the resultant pregnancy. Despite her unfortunate ordeal, she is banished by Diana in a seemingly unfair narrative.

This famous series would prove inspirational to many artists from around this artistic period and several other key names from the Renaissance and Baroque periods would produce their own paintings to bring these words to life.

The Wasserburg Anholt in Isselburg also holds works by Jan van Goyen and Gerard ter Borch (Portrait of Gesina ter Borch as a shepherdess) in their collection plus porcelain, weaponry and armoury. This impressive building also has a large set of gardens which draw in crowds just by themselves.