Diana thumbnail 1
Diana thumbnail 2
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images
Image of Gallery in South Kensington
On display at V&A South Kensington
Europe 1600-1815, Room 6, The Lisa and Bernard Selz Gallery

Diana

Statuette
ca. 1650 (made)
Artist/Maker
Kern, Leonhard (sculptors)
Place of origin
Germany (made)

Small statuettes of nude figures were popular cabinet items from the sixteenth century onwards. Often, as in this case, the figure was identified as a classical deity by way of attributes. This figure, from the crescent moon on her forehead, represents Diana the Huntress and Goddess of the Moon. The sculptor, Leonhard Kern, who was from the town of Schwäbisch Hall in Baden-Württemberg, specialised in such small figures, executing them in both wood and ivory. The pose and proportions of this statuette suggest that Kern was influenced by sculptures he saw during his visit to Italy.


Object details

Category
Sculpture
Object type
Statuette
TitleDiana (generic title)
Materials and techniques
Boxwood
Carving
Brief description
Statuette Diana, boxwood, German ca. 1650 by Leonhard Kern.
Physical description
Boxwood statuette of Diana depicted as a huntress with a whippet.
Dimensions
  • Height: 24cm
  • Width: 9cm
  • Depth: 8.5cm
Measured by SCP (LS) and FTF (DH) on 13 December 2012 for 1600-1800 Project. Height of 22.54 cm is based on old departmental files.
Gallery label
DIANA German, Schwäbisch-Hall; around 1650 Boxwood By Leonhard Kern (1588-1663) The roman goddess Diana is shown here as a hunter with her dog. The crescent moon on her forehead is a reference to her status as a goddess of the moon. Kern also made the ivory figures representing Charity and Abundance displayed here. (1993 - 2011)
Production
The attribution to Kern is based on the close similarity to a signed pearwood figure of Eve in the Herzog-Anton-Ulrich Museum in Brunswick.
Subjects depicted
Dog
Diana
Summary
Small statuettes of nude figures were popular cabinet items from the sixteenth century onwards. Often, as in this case, the figure was identified as a classical deity by way of attributes. This figure, from the crescent moon on her forehead, represents Diana the Huntress and Goddess of the Moon. The sculptor, Leonhard Kern, who was from the town of Schwäbisch Hall in Baden-Württemberg, specialised in such small figures, executing them in both wood and ivory. The pose and proportions of this statuette suggest that Kern was influenced by sculptures he saw during his visit to Italy.
Bibliographic references
  • cf. Theuerkauff, Christian von. Elfenbein: Sammlung Reiner Winkler. München: Kastner & Callwey, 1984. Vol. I. p. 64. no. 28.
  • Günenwald, Elizabeth. Leonhard Kern; ein Bildhauer des Barock. Schwäbisch Hall, Eppinger, 1969. cat. no. 57. pl. 48.
  • Dreier, Franz-Adrian. Unbekannte Elfenbeinarbeiten von Leonhard Kern und zwei Reliefs aus der Drehbank des Landgrafen Carl von Hessen. Pantheon. 22, 1964. pp. 96-106.
  • Fillitz, Hermann. Zu Leonhard Kern : neuaufgefundene werke seiner Hand. Jahrbuch der Kunsthistorischen Sammlungen in Wien. 53, XVII, 1957. p. 216.
  • Müller, J. In: Thieme-Becker Künstlerlexikon. XX, 1927. p. 182.
  • Sauerlandt, Max. Unveröffentliche Arbeiten von Leonhard Kern und seiner Schule. Belvedere. 3, 1924. pp. 50-56.
Collection
Sculpture Collection
Accession number
A.1-1922

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Record createdJune 24, 2009
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O312263/diana-statuette-kern-leonhard/
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