Diana the Huntress

It was not until three decades after this statue of Diana was finished that the naturalistic base, with its rocks from which the gnarled branches of an oak are growing, was added. The figure stands on the base in such a way that the goddess is taking a great stride toward the beholder, her right shoulder turned to the fore. Seen from another angle, roughly from the right, the statue makes a wholly different, much more harmonious impression. The bodily contours and fluttering dress, as well as her averted head, then become part of a unified outline. In this compositional approach, and in the classical style of the head and clothing, the figure is very much indebted to classical trends that prevailed in its day, and which ultimately derived from Raphael.