Diana asleep by a fountain

Cortona, Pietro da, after

Mezzotint on paper of Diana asleep by a fountain with dogs published by John Smith (1652-1743) in London after 1706. The print was pulled from a plate engraved by Robert Robinson (fl. 1674-1706) which Smith acquired after the artist’s death. The mezzotint composition is an expanded version of an engraving by Cornelis Bloemaert (1603-1684) from a series of 15 plates. Bloemaert’s engravings were themselves copies of the frescoes in the Sala di Giove (Jupiter Room) of the Palazzo Pitti in Florence (1641-1644). The Jupiter Room, an Audience Chamber or Throne Room, was one of a series of ‘Planetary Rooms’ the Grand Duke of Tuscany, Ferdinando II de’ Medici (1610-1670), commissioned Pietro da Cortona (1597-1669) to decorate in 1641. Many of Cortona’s preparatory drawings are preserved in the Uffizi Gallery.