The Story
Diana and Her Nymphs Departing for the Hunt, c. 1615. Peter Paul Rubens (Flemish, 1577–1640), and Workshop. Oil on canvas; framed: 261 x 225 x 11 cm (102 3/4 x 88 9/16 x 4 5/16 in.); unframed: 216 x 178.7 cm (85 1/16 x 70 3/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund, 1959.190
Created in 1615 during the Baroque period, this work belongs firmly within the religion & mythology tradition. Peter Paul Rubens worked at a moment when the rivalry between Catholic Baroque drama and Protestant restraint reshaped what a painting could mean. Every gesture, fabric, and gleam of light was decoded by contemporary viewers like a private language.
Executed in oil on canvas, measuring Framed: 261 x 225 x 11 cm (102 3/4 x 88 9/16 x 4 5/16 in.); Unframed: 216 x 178.7 cm (85 1/16 x 70 3/8 in.), the surface rewards close looking. Peter Paul Rubens builds the composition through layered glazes and a tightly controlled palette, letting cool shadows recede so that the warm, lit passages step forward. The brushwork shifts from the precise to the almost dissolved — a hallmark of mature Baroque practice.
“A silence so complete it becomes its own witness.”
