Armand Cambon

The subject of the present painting is taken from the Metamorphoses: Book 3, written by the Roman poet Ovid (1st century AD). It depicts the forest goddess Diana surrounded by nymphs, who have come to relax in a bath after a hunt. Naked and vulnerable, she is surprised by the hunter Actaeon. Enragered, she transforms the mortal into a stag, and leave him to the voracity of his own hounds. The moment depicted shows the unbridled rage of Diana, a slender figure standing out against the shadow of a rocky cave in the background. She covers her body with a red drapery, a symbol of her wrath, as the bathing nymphs flee from the scene. Diana is surrounded by two nymphs, whose anatomical studies are admirably executed. In a state of abandonment, the nymph seen from behind and the sleeping beauty plunge the viewer into a contemplative silence. They recall the perfect drawing and ideal beauty of Ingres's odalisques (La Baigneuse de Valpinçon ; La Source). Armand Cambon’s masterly brushwork is evident in the effects used to render the soft flesh, the luminous fabrics and the almost sketchily shaded undergrowth. 

A preparatory study, in the collection of the Musée Ingres-Bourdelle in Montauban, corresponds to our composition. A written inscription on the reverse also confirms that a version of Diana and Actaeon was exhibited at the 1861 Salon. It is very likely that the present painting is the one that was first exhibited at the 1861 Paris Salon (under the number 504).  An inscription on the back of the study states that the “current owner of the original painting of Diana at the Bath,” exhibited at the Salon of 1861, is the Vice-Cons ul of Brazil in the city of  Lille. Our research has identified Mr Louis Bayart, who was appointed Vice-Consul of Brazil in Lille on June 28, 1877. Therefore, this note could note have been written before Mr Bayart’s appointment to the newly-created position of Vice-Consul.Moreover, this note aligns with the date 8 when the present painting was exhibited in the French Fine Arts Section of the Exposition Universelle of 1878 (no. 163). This leads us to conclude that there is only one version of Diana and Actaeon by Armand Cambon, and that is the present painting. 

Armand Cambon exhibited the present painting at the Exposition universelle of 1878 as evidenced by the label on the wooden stretcher of the canvas, which bears the number 163, corresponding to its entry in the catalogue of the French Fine Arts Section. The asterisk before the title of the painting indicated to visitors that it belonged to its author and was therefore available for sale. The