Apollo and Diana,

ca. 1503–04

Dürer’s lifelong preoccupation with the construction and proportions of the human figure is reflected in several engravings featuring male and female nudes, including the celebrated Adam and Eve (1504). Possibly conceived as a pair, these two smaller scenes reflect Dürer’s response to engravings of the same subjects by the Venetian-born artist Jacopo de’ Barbari, who worked in Nuremberg in the early 1500s. In Greek mythology, Apollo and Diana are twin siblings skilled at archery and hunting. Often depicted in their celestial chariots, here they are earthbound; the muscular Apollo wields a bow and arrow, while the seated Diana caresses and feeds a stag.