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"Actaeon in Flight," Painting with Male Nude by Littlefield

Creator: William Horace Littlefield
Offered by: 2220 Antiques

Description
This stunning example of Art Deco painting illustrates the dramatic moment when the hunter Actaeon, having seen the nude Diana in her bath, is meeting his death. Here Actaeon himself is fully nude, and is being transformed into a deer as he is being pursued by Diana's avengers. The classic myth says that Diana's hounds pursued him to his death, but here he is being shown pierced with arrows, which may be the artist's way of comparing Actaeon's fate to the martyrdom of Saint Sebastian. The artist was William Littlefield, who painted a series of mythological scenes with nude figures in the 1920s, 30s and 40s, as well as a celebrated boxer series during this time. Littlefield exhibited widely in the 1930s and 1940s, and his works are in the collections of the Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford. He was very well connected to the art world of New York and New England, and painted a stunning life-size portrait of Lincoln Kirstein, who co-founded the New York City Ballet. This painting is also fascinating from an art historical perspective because Littlefield documented the particular mix of oil, tempera and resin that he used for this painting on the reverse.

More Information

Documentation:	Signed
Origin:	United States
Period:	1920-1949
Materials:	Oil tempera Resin
Condition:	Good.
Creation Date:	1942
Styles / Movements:	Other
Dealer Reference #:	2825
Incollect Reference #:	734002

Dimensions

H.	36.5 in;	D.	1 in;	H.2.	23.75 in;
H.	92.71 cm;	D.	2.54 cm;	H.2.	60.33 cm;

Message from Seller:

2220 Antiques is the latest merchant to locate to the recently opened 100,000 square foot Antique and Design Center “Showrooms 2220”, in Philadelphia, PA. The proprietor of 2220 Antiques is an international buyer, traveling extensively over the past thirty-five years cultivating a refined eye for good design