the hunter & the hunted (after The Death of Actaeon)

101x122cm / 40×48” acrylic on canvas, 2026

The Death of Actaeon, red-figure skyphos, c. 400-350 BC

Actaeon is out hunting. He hunts successfully, albeit excessively, through to midday. He happens upon Diana, the goddess of the hunt, bathing naked in the woods. Angered that Actaeon has seen her nakedness, Diana forbids him to speak or he shall he be turned into a stag. He attempts to yell to his hunting party & immediately begins transformation. Actaeon is then chased by his own hunting dogs, & the dogs, unable to recognize their master, kill him.

But is it really just for mere chance that Actaeon is punished so severely for? As David Flores so eloquently discusses, “It may have been mischance that Actaeon walked upon Diana (Artemis) and her nymphs while bathing; it may have also been fortune’s fault that he was privy to the nakedness of a goddess. Nonetheless, this trespass still seems to leave some of the fault with Actaeon. He is flawed somehow, and this makes him insufficient to properly interact with Diana. This is hinted at in the beginning of the story. Actaeon seems to be obsessed with the hunt in some improper manner… He derives too much pleasure from the hunt, slaughtering seemingly most if not all the prey he can find. It is an excess… Diana, by transforming him, deems him unworthy and makes his flaws manifest by transforming him into a beast.”

David Flores, Perilous Ascent: An Exploration of Actaeon and Revolution https://www.thesymbolicworld.com/content/perilous-ascent-an-exploration-of-actaeon-and-revolution

pmd 2026