Diana's Revenge

Below is guest blogged.

I went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art as a field trip during March. I saw many wonderful works of art there. One piece of artwork that fascinated me was the tapestry of Diana and Acteon. In my report, I will tell you about this wonderful work of art.

As I said, this tapestry is called Diana and Acteon. The artist that made this piece of artwork was named Jean Jans II. This tapestry was woven in Paris, France at the Altier of Jean Jans the Younger near the Gobelins. The culture that this tapestry described was the Romans.

I chose this work of art because it described a Greek/Roman myth. I think that these myths are cool and interesting because they usually have a god or goddess upset. I’m always eager to find out what happens to the person that messed with the god/goddess. Something that inspired me to pick this tapestry was the Percy Jackson series. The series were based on Greek Mythology and I wanted to find more about the Greek and Roman myths. (I really liked the Percy Jackson books)

This tapestry shows Diana (also known as Artemis, goddess of the hunt) taking a bath in the forest with nymphs. Acteon, the man hidden in the trees was secretly watching Diana. When Diana found out, she was not happy. She turned Acteon into a stag/deer. In the tapestry it shows Acteon with antlers on his head to show he was turning into a deer. Then, Diana had his own hunting dogs kill him. The dogs were probably thinking, boy, this deer is sure dumb. It walked right in front of me. I get a free meal without doing any work! Hmm, huh, there’s something strange going on… hey, where’s Acteon?! Am I seeing things because I see an Acteodeer! But I am going to eat it anyway. I think Diana was a bit too cruel. If I were Diana, I would warn or threaten Acteon first like this “Get out of here or I’ll turn you into your dog’s lunch or something like that.” However, watching someone take a bath is a bit, well, not right, right?

I learned from seeing this piece from the tour that the people from long ago would hang tapestries such as this one as a decoration on the wall. This makes sense because where would you put it, under your couch? Tapestries also help trap heat in the house. Also, I learned to never watch gods or goddesses while they are taking a shower in the forest… if I ever encounter one of them. (Just joking) I also learned that Artemis can be called Diana instead of Artemis.

I hope you learned a lot about Diana and Acteon in my report and had fun reading it. Here’s a picture of Diana and Acteon.  http://www.flickr.com/photos/peterjr1961/2497782735/sizes/l/