Model of the 44-gun frigate Diana

This object is a shipbuilder’s model with a single deck, with all its rigging and sails, and the sails furled on the yardarms. Flying from the top of the mainmast is a double-pointed swallowtail flag with the colors and stripes of the Royal Decree of 1785. The fine-lined hull is laid with vertical wales. The freeboard has hull girders but no lining, which is typical of shipbuilder's models. On the prow is a beautiful figurehead carved from bone or ivory representing the goddess Diana. From 1793 figureheads alluding to the name of the ship replaced the crowned lion on Spanish naval ships.

The frigate Diana was built at the Mahon shipyard by Honorato de Bouyon to plans by Julián Martín de Retamosa (1747–1827), the engineer who succeeded Romero y Fernández de Landa in 1791 at the helm of naval shipbuilding. The building of the ship began following a Royal Order issued on September 22, 1790, and it was launched in 1792. Its first commander was Captain Baltasar Hidalgo de Cisneros, who was appointed on March 30 of the same year. When war was declared with France, following the death of Louis XVI, the ship took troops to the army in Roussillon. Just as war was about to be declared with England, Frigate Captain Juan José Varela took over the command of the Diana on September 19, 1796. The frigate carried out several commissions in the Mediterranean as part of General Lángara’s division. With the fleet now under the command of Lieutenant General José de Córdoba, it set sail for the Atlantic on January 31, 1797. On February 14, 1797 it took part in the Battle of Cape St. Vincent against Jervis’ British fleet. Later, in 1815, it left Cádiz commanded by Captain José de Salas, forming part of the naval convoy of 65 sailing ships escorting General Pablo Morillo’s army to Cumaná, with the aim of re-taking Venezuela. On August 8, 1820, commanded by José Ramón de Obregón, it set sail from Cádiz for the Algerian coast together with some Dutch naval ships, so as to comply with international agreements and put a stop to the Barbary pirates. In 1821 the frigate was broken up, and it was withdrawn from the list of Spanish naval ships the following year.

The model was built by an unknown shipbuilder and designed by Julián Martín de Retamosa. It was used in the works on the frigate Ninfa (alias Nuestra Señora del Rosario) and then on December 1, 1797 an official notice authorized its transfer to the Royal Court. It is included in the inventory of assets left by Ferdinand VII of Spain, in his personal library in the Royal Palace of Madrid, in the same showcase in which it is displayed in the Museum. On June 8, 1847 Queen Isabella II of Spain decreed that it should be given to the Museum.