Jupiter (in the guise of Diana) and Callisto (1733): Art, History and Details

Jupiter (in the guise of Diana) and Callisto (1733) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Jacob de Wit (Dutch, 1695–1754).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

The beautiful Callisto was a follower of the goddess Diana. According to Ovid’s Metamorphosis, she was seduced by Jupiter, who fooled her by appearing in the guise of Diana. Here, the eagle at Diana’s back is the only indicator that Jupiter is present. Such scenes of the loves and misdeeds of the gods were popular in Amsterdam at the beginning of the 1700s, and Jacob De Wit’s primary employment was making large paintings destined for the dining and sitting rooms of stately homes. De Wit also made finished drawings, as here, which were prized for their fresh colors, easy movements, and playfulness.

Object facts

• Title: Jupiter (in the guise of Diana) and Callisto
• Date: 1733
• Creator attribution: Jacob de Wit (Dutch, 1695–1754)
• Culture: Netherlands
• Type: Drawing
• Technique: black chalk, pen and ink, brown and gray wash, watercolor, gouache, white heightening and brown ink framing lines
• Dimensions: Sheet: 48.6 x 34.9 cm (19 1/8 x 13 3/4 in.); Matted: 54.8 x 40.3 cm (21 9/16 x 15 7/8 in.); Platemark: 44.8 x 30.8 cm (17 5/8 x 12 1/8 in.)
• Collection: DR - Dutch
• Department: Drawings
• Accession number: 2023.45

A detail from the museum

The elegant hunting dogs in this composition appear in the background in a faint vignette that features Diana hunting a deer with a bow and arrow.

Collection credit

Norman O. Stone and Ella A. Stone Memorial Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Staring, Adolph. Jacob de Wit, 1695-1754. [Aangeboden aan de leden van het Koninklijk Oudheidkundig Genootschap ter gelegenheid van zijn 100-jarig bestaan]. Amsterdam: P.N. van Kampen, 1958.
• te Rijdt, Robert-Jan A. “Jacob de Wit,” Delineavit et Sculpsit (March 1997).
• Dumas, Charles. Lines of Friendship: Art Historical Essays Commemorating Robert-Jan Te Rijdt (1955-2024). Leiden: Primavera Pers, 2025.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.