Callisto in her retirement

Sir Anthony van Dyck (1599–1641) was a Flemish Baroque artist who became the leading court painter in England to the Court of Charles I after success in the Southern Netherlands and Italy. His portraiture remained famous and influential until well into the 19th century.  

This mezzotint with etching, made by Richard Earlom and published by the celebrated John Boydell, is based on a lost original, very likely a painting, by van Dyck, and dates from nearly 140 years after his death. The nymph Callisto is seated at a riverbank, on a robe and a voluminous white cloth, with her feet in the water, and is wrapping the cloth around her hair. Cupid stands in the river, imploring, with three putti disporting in the waters. Jupiter in the form of a lecherous satyr is spying on the naked woman from behind a tree. In the Greek myth, he transformed himself into the figure of Artemis and impregnated her; she was transformed by a furious Hera into a bear, and later, just as she was about to be killed by her son when he was hunting, she was set among the stars as Ursa Major ("the Great Bear" constellation).

See:

Wikipedia, 'Callisto (mythology)', https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Callisto_(mythology)

Wikipedia, 'Anthony van Dyck', https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_van_Dyck

Dr Mark Stocker   Curator, Historical International Art     September 2018