Provenance:

(Possibly) William Russell (Lugt 2648)
Sir James Knowles; his sale:
Christie’s, London, 27 May 1908, lot 200
With Louis Meier, London; from whom acquired ca. 1955 by:
Ralph Holland (1925–2014), Galleria Portatile, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK; his sale:
Sotheby’s, London, 5 July 2013, lot 306; where acquired by:
Private Collection, USA, until 2025.

Exhibited:

“Old Master Drawings,” Hatton Gallery, University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, 1960, cat. no. 49, as Domenico Maria Fratta.

“Italian and Other Drawings, 1500–1800,” Hatton Gallery, University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, May 1974, cat. no. 108, as Domenico Maria Fratta.

“Italian drawings, 1525-1750: From the collection of Ralph Holland,” Hatton Gallery, University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, May-June 1982, cat. no. 79, pl. XIXB, as Donato Creti.

Donato Creti was one of the leading painters and draughtsman of 18th-century Bologna. In his biography of the artist, Giampietro Zanotti noted that the artist favored representations of grace and elegance and emphasized his naturally melancholic disposition. This accomplished landscape drawing exemplifies Creti’s artistic preferences and his sensibility in its treatment of a mythological subject set in an evocative Arcadian setting.

Here Diana, the Roman goddess of the hunt and the moon, is shown at rest with her arrows in a quiver by her side. Cupid sits beside her with a finger raised to his lips as he peers out of the drawing, signaling to the viewer to stay silent while he guards her. In the foreground, the goddess’s hunting dogs—one alert and one asleep—mirror Cupid and Diana. In the right background, two figures appear beneath a tree along the banks of the river. The seated female figure looks towards the viewer while the standing male figure with bow and arrow points off to the distance, as though he is about to leave on the hunt.

Rather than a depiction of Diana with a companion, these figures appear wearing 18th century clothing. The presence of the Italian village in the distant background underlines that the artist is here mixing a mythological subject with a contemporary setting. Creti has masterfully organized the composition in a V-shape and with an expansive sky at the top of this large sheet. The vertical format was especially favored by the artist, and he produced many highly finished landscape drawings that were finished works in their own right, intended either to be sold directly to collectors or given as gifts to friends.

Our drawing has a companion, also from the collection of Sir James Knowles, that is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (Figs. 1-2).[1] Bathers in a Wooded Landscape may also relate to story of the goddess Diana, particularly the episode of Diana and Actaeon. Actaeon was a hunter who accidentally stumbled upon the goddess Diana bathing with her nymphs, and she transformed him into a stag. The Met’s drawing places a young male bather near a pool in the foreground, while three female figures wash in the distance. Intriguingly, when set side by side, the hunter in our drawing points at the female bathers in the Met’s sheet. The two drawings make an impressive pair, sharing a comparable sense of balance with graceful forms and precise handling of the quill pen.

[1] https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/338585. See: Jacob Bean and Lawrence Turcic, 17th Century Italian Drawings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1979, cat. no. 154, pp. 122-23. Our drawing was also previously in the collection of Sir James Knowles, so likely came from William Russell as well.