Bust of Diana

Diana ‒ Roman goddess of light and guardian
of all forms of life, associated with the Greek Artemis, goddess of the
hunt, ruler of forests and wild animals, goddess of the moon. Similarly
to her bother Apollo, the attributes of Artemis were a bow and arrows.
The goddess is often depicted with the motif of a half-moon on her
forehead.

The goddess’ bust is one of the few versions of the images of Diana
made by Jean-Antoine Houdon at the end of the 18th c. Houdon was one of
the most outstanding French sculptors at the turn of the 18th and 19th
c. He sculpted mythological statues in imitation of the classical style,
with well-defined contours and a cold expression. He gained fame and
great popularity thanks to his realistic busts and figures portraying
famous personages of the Enlightenment, including Voltaire, Molière,
Denis Diderot, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Benjamin Franklin, George
Washington, Napoleon II and Catherine the Great.

The marble bust exhibited in the Palace on the Isle was, until
recently, believed lost. It is a replica of a fragment of a marble
statue depicting a full-length figure of Diana, which in 1784 was
acquired by Catherine the Great from Ernest II, Duke of
Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg (at present the property of the Fundação Calouste
Gulbenkian in Lisbon). The marble sculpture dated to 1780 shows Diana the Huntress with
a quiver full of arrows on a strap across her breast. The plaster cast
of the full-figure statue was shown by the artist in 1777 in his
atelier. At the same time Houdon also exhibited a marble bust of Diana
at the Paris Salon.

The bust by Houdon was one of the most valuable works by
a contemporary artist which King Stanisław August acquired for his
collection, as is confirmed by the 1795 inventory compiled by the court
painter Marcello Bacciarelli. At the end of the 18th c. the sculpture
was part of the decoration of the Dining Room in the Palace on the Isle.

Lost in 1940, during the German occupation of Poland, along with
other precious works of art, it was taken to Kraków, where it was housed
in the headquarters of Hans Frank, the Governor General. In July 2015,
Ewa Ziembińska of the National Museum in Warsaw discovered the sculpture
at an auction of works of art in Vienna. The Ministry of Culture and
National Heritage requested that the sculpture be returned to Poland. It
was possible to recover the sculpture as a result of the collaboration
between the Ministry of Culture and the Art Recovery Group,
a London-based company specialising in the recovery of works of art. It
was possible to recover the statue thanks to the assistance of Artur
Lorkowski, Ambassador to the Republic of Poland in Austria and staff of
the Polish Embassy in Vienna, in particular the General Consul, Andrzej
Kaczorowski.