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Sr. Contributor

This Titian's part of a reverse BOGO, but more like BBGN (buy both or get none).

Diana, Roman goddess of the hunt, is pissed that one of her besties has gotten pregnant. Rule number one of Diana's squad was no funny business with men whatsoever. But, Diana's dad Zeus was flying through the forest-paradise of Arcadia after bringing everything back to life from a huge fire caused by the sun crashing into the earth.

Then Zeus got a load of Callisto running naked through the forest. Never one to pass up tricking or raping people, Zeus transformed into the likeness of his daughter Diana and seduced her friend. Callisto was ready to get down with Diana, but tried to call it all off once she realized it was Zeus. The king of Olympus forced himself on the maiden and got her pregnant. She hid the baby bump as long as possible, and this scene depicts Diana's demeanor when she finds out.  Spoiler alert: she's pissed. 

Titian painted this particular depiction of the myth for King Philip II of Spain, but never delivered the goods. The work remained unfinished on the painter's death and wound up in the Bridgewater collection in England. By 2008, the Duke of Sutherland (who owns the Bridgewater collection through inheritance) was in a bind. Most of his estimated £480 million fortune was locked up in paintings. Looking to get some cash, while remaining a good noble in Britain, he offered the National Gallery two grade-A works by Titian for the low, low price of £50 million each. If the government couldn't fork over cash for both, the whole deal was off.

The Scottish government controversially put £17.5 million pounds into the kitty, and the Duke lowered the price on the second painting to £45 million to make the sale happen. The final sale price of nearly £100 million from public funds on these two paintings pissed off a lot of people, especially since there was already so many paintings by Titian in the National Gallery. The sentiment around the isles was that, "Yeah, the paintings are nice and all, but the guy's not even British."

Contributor

Here Callisto is being dragged in front of Diana to discuss her pregnancy. So far it does not look like things are going well, and given the number of weapons lying around, Callisto is probably nervous.


Some of the other nymphs look like they are starting to show as well, but that could also just be the result of hanging out with the goddess of the hunt full time, and therefore having plenty to eat.

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Here is what Wikipedia says about Diana and Callisto

Diana and Callisto is a painting completed between 1556 and 1559 by the Italian late Renaissance artist Titian. It portrays the moment in which the goddess Diana discovers that her maid Callisto has become pregnant by Jupiter. The painting was jointly purchased by the National Gallery and the Scottish National Gallery for £45 million in March 2012. Along with its companion painting Diana and Actaeon it is displayed on an alternating basis between London and Edinburgh. There is a later version by Titian and his workshop in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.

Check out the full Wikipedia article about Diana and Callisto