Circle of PETER PAUL RUBENS (Siegen, Germany, 1577 - Antwerp, Belgium, 1640)."Diana and Actaeon".Oil on canvas.Presents restorations.Measures: 93 x 176 cm.This painting depicts a theme taken from classical mythology and much repeated throughout the history of art since the Renaissance, that of Diana and Actaeon, narrated by Ovid in his "Metamorphoses". The goddess, devoted to chastity, was bathing in the company of her nymphs in the woods near the Boeotian city of Orcomenus, when the famous hunter Actaeon found her by chance. Fascinated by her beauty, the young man stopped and stared at her nakedness. Diana discovered him and, as punishment, turned him into a deer. She then sent Actaeon's own hounds to kill him, who devoured him. Here we see Actaeon turning to Diana, who sends her dogs, who devour the young man in the poet Ovid's account. This theme is already represented in ancient art, with examples such as the 5th century B.C. krater called "Artemis killing Actaeon" or the Hellenistic marble reliefs on the same myth preserved in the British Museum. Likewise, in 1684 Marc-Antoine Charpentier set to music a lyrical tragedy entitled "Actaeon". It was also represented by many painters, including Parmigianino, Fontanellato, Titian and Delacroix. While in the 17th century the demand for religious art for churches radically ceased in the northern provinces, today's Holland, in Flanders a monumental art in the service of the Catholic Church flourished, partly due to the necessary restoration of the ravages that the wars had caused in churches and convents. In the field of secular art, Flemish painters worked for the court in Brussels and also for the other courts of Europe, producing a painting with classical, mythological and historical themes that was to decorate brilliantly the Royal Sites of Spain, France and England. In the case of this work, the painter represents a theme very much to the taste of the time.Both for the dynamic composition of the scene, in which all the figures are in active movement, and for the anatomical conception of the figures, the piece is very reminiscent of works by the artist Peter Paul Rubens, such as the piece in the Prado Museum, "Diana and her nymphs surprised by the Satyrs". Peter Paul Rubens was a painter of the Flemish school who, however, competed on equal terms with contemporary Italian artists, and enjoyed a very important international importance, since his influence was also key in other schools, as is the case of the transition to full baroque in Spain. Although born in Westphalia, Rubens grew up in Antwerp, where his family originated. His mother, Maria Pypelincks, was a very important character in his life. She gave him a courtly and cultural education, which included the study of Latin and Greek, as well as the Bible. It was in fact his mother who put him in contact, while still very young, with the best painters of the time. Rubens had three teachers, the first being Tobias Verhaecht, a painter of precise and meticulous technique who had traveled to Italy, and who instilled in the young painter the first artistic rudiments. It is also possible that Rubens traveled to Italy influenced by this first master. The second was Adam van Noort, a Romanist painter also oriented towards the Italian influence, with a language still Mannerist, and who must also have influenced the young man to visit Italy. Finally, his third teacher was Otto van Veen, the most outstanding and the last of them. After his training, Rubens joined the Antwerp painters' guild in 1598. Only two years later he made a trip to Italy, where he stayed between 1600 and 1608.