It's All In The Details... Titian at the National Gallery (in a mask)

I was standing there gazing at 'Diana and Actaeon' in the Titian exhibition at the National Gallery and started drinking in the details. I'm quite familiar with the painting but it's always nice to really look at a painting. I liked how Diana's little lap dog is already in full protective mode, baring her teeth at the enemy, young Actaeon and his hunting dog. The nymphs are all shocked and scared but the little dog is ready for anything. Actaeon is a mortal and Diana is a goddess so is pretty safe really, but that's not the point.

Actaeon is all muscle and sinew, not an ounce of spare flesh on that body, just look at the legs and that shoulder and arm. Diana and her handmaidens are all soft and fleshy, voluptuous and inviting, just the odd piece of drapery covering them. They're at their bath after all. They've been surprised and are attempting to cover their nakedness, all that flesh on display. Why they would choose to bathe in a ruined house in the middle of the woods is anybody's guess.

Then I noticed, between two nymphs on the ornate ledge above the pool, a small jar probably filled with rare, essential oils for Diana to bathe with. There's a small mirror beside it reflecting the jar. On closer inspection there's a reflection of the jar in the pool and, looking closer still, you can see a few dabs of white paint that give the jar it's sheen.  

Sometimes it's the details that bring a painting to life. Look at the detail on that ruined shelf, the frieze around the old fountain or whatever it is, partially worn away over the years and then that small jar. All the marks of a master. But it's the storytelling that draws us into a painting like this, the inventiveness of the composition. The current Titian exhibition is well worth seeing.