Actaeon Watching Diana and Her Nymphs Bathing, 1560s (oil on canvas)

This work is part of a series of mythological subjects that most likely decorated a frieze in a private home, perhaps just under a crown molding. The hunter Actaeon has stumbled upon the goddess of the hunt, Diana, bathing with her nymphs—her arrows and their clothes have been discarded at right. As punishment for gazing upon their nudity, Diana transforms Actaeon into a stag and he is torn apart by his own dogs. Typically this story is rendered with Actaeon expressing shock; here, however, he lounges on a rock, apparently enjoying the scene before he suffers the consequences.