Artemis
by HAMMERSHØI, Vilhelm, Oil on canvas, 193 x 252 cm
Hammershøi painted out the fleshy elements of nudity in favour of an Arcadian concept of nudity as a pure, harmonic form. In his painting, the goddess Artemis - crowned with a crescent moon - becomes the centre of a sublimation of man and all things human.
Art historians have pointed to sources of inspiration such as Puvis de Chavannes and the frescoes of Masaccio and Masolino at the Cappella Brancacci, Chiesa del Carmine, Florence.