Diana and her nymphs surprised by Actaeon - Armand Cambon (1819-1885)

Armand Cambon (1819–1885)
Oil on canvas
37 1/2 by 53 in.,
Exhibited at the 1878 Exposition Universelle
Signed lower right

Exhibitions:
Exhibited at the Salon des Artistes Vivants at the Palais des Champs-Élysées under the title:
Diana, surprised at her bath by Actaeon, transforms him into a stag, no. 504; attributed to the artist.
French Fine Arts Section, International Exposition of 1878, Paris, under the title:
Diana surprised at her bath by Actaeon, no. 163; attributed to the artist.
Related Work:
Diana at the Bath, oil on cardboard, 22.5 x 21.8 cm, inv. 16.1.26, Ingres-Bourdelle Museum, Montauban.
Reproduced as no. 45 in the Inventaire des collections publiques françaises no. 11, Montauban – Musée Ingres. Peinture. Ingres et son temps, Paris, Éditions des musées nationaux, 1965, unpaginated.

Diana at the Bath, Surprised by Actaeon is an exceptional painting due to the rarity of Armand Cambon’s works on the art market. A student and the testamentary executor of Ingres, Cambon donated his own works to the Montauban museum, of which he was the first director.

In this composition, Cambon tackles a mythological subject rooted in the grand tradition of Western art. He pays particular attention to the depiction of the nude nymphs surrounding the chaste goddess, whose modesty is preserved by the illusionistic rendering of her drapery.

The study of this painting allows us to trace its remarkable exhibition history. It was likely first presented at the Salon des Beaux-Arts in 1861, then — as evidenced by a label on its stretcher — shown again at the Exposition Universelle in Paris in 1878. There, it was acquired directly from the artist to be included among the major prizes of the National Lottery, which marked the closing festivities of the Exposition Universelle.

A close relative of Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, Armand Cambon benefited from the master’s advice. He quickly gained Ingres’ trust and affection, becoming his protégé and close collaborator. Cambon contributed to the decoration of Paris City Hall, a project commissioned to Ingres, as well as to the execution of Saint Germaine of Pibrac (c. 1856, Church of Saint-Étienne, Sapiac), and to several late portraits, including those of Madame Moitessier and Betty de Rothschild.

The subject of this painting is taken from Book III of Metamorphoses, written by the Roman poet Ovid in the 1st century CE. It depicts Diana, goddess of the woods, surrounded by her nymphs, relaxing in a bath after the hunt. Naked and vulnerable, she is surprised by the mortal Actaeon. In a rage, she transforms him into a stag, condemned to be devoured by his own hounds.

A handwritten inscription on the back of the preparatory study identifies the then-owner of the original painting — exhibited at the 1861 Salon — as the Vice-Consul of Brazil in Lille. Our research has identified this individual as Mr. Louis Bayart, who was appointed First Vice-Consul of Brazil in Lille on June 28, 1877.