Art Analysis: Diana

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Diana – with her rosy cheeks, curly hair, and gold gown – embodies modesty and chastity. Yet, as her left breast lies carelessly outside of the confines of her dress, she smiles slyly with her plump lips. Diana relishes in the voyeuristic gaze. Diana Kirke, later Countess of Oxford by Sir Peter Lely begs for attention.
The painting represents the traditional Baroque portrait style of the seventeenth to mid-eighteenth centuries. Black, gray, and fleeting yellow amalgamate in the background, while white light converges on Diana’s chest, directing the onlooker’s eye directly to her exposed breast. A harlot known for having multiple lovers, Diana protrudes from the unstimulating background; her dress radiates a gold sheen and her skin possesses a porcelain quality. Diana encapsulates beauty and lust, and she transcends the boundaries of being and appears as a siren or goddess reclining against a stone wall. In such a bleak world, Diana can show you the real pleasures in life. …show more content…

She neither dominates nor hides in the Yale Center for British Art. Her size appears realistic, and she floats slightly above eye level. Diana extends from the main wall on a partition, and she stands directly in the viewer’s line of sight; it is impossible to pass from one side of the gallery to another without seeing her. Her soft, oval eyes and simple face confront the viewer with both reality and fantasy. Diana’s soft smirk confirms she knows your gaze is not on her face, but on her unsheathed left breast, and she consents to, if not encourages, the lustful

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