Jupiter Disguised as Diana Seducing Callisto

In addition, in the depicted scene, the traditional gender roles of an active male and a passive female are absent.

Although Diana (Jupiter) takes the initiative, leaning towards the nymph, Callisto does not look stiff and passive, she responds with her gaze, thereby expressing her own desire.

He puts his finger on his lips, in a gesture indicating a call to silence, perhaps because Jupiter is deceiving, or maybe because he is witnessing something that cannot be mentioned openly, female passion.

[1] Part of a pair with Orpheus and Eurydice (the same size and format), they were both probably first owned by the French lawyer Charles Alexandre de Calonne (1734–1802).

They were then sold at Skinner and Dyke auction in London on 27 March 1795 for 67 guineas to Sir Drummond Cospatrick Hamilton-Spencer-Smith, 5th Baronet (1876–1955).