Deer in mythology stood in some sort of connexion to Odin's endowment of the dignity of kings." In Greek mythology, the deer is particularly associated with Artemis in her role as virginal huntress. Actaeon, after witnessing the nude figure of Artemis bathing in a pool, was transformed by Artemis into a stag that his own hounds tore to pieces. Callimachus, in his archly knowledgeable "Hymn III to Artemis", mentions the deer that drew the chariot of Artemis: One of the Labors of Heracles was to capture the Cerynian Hind sacred to Artemis and deliver it briefly to his patron, then rededicate it to
The Death of Actaeon a stag and he was attacked and killed by his own hounds. Both paintings belong to a group of large-scale mythological paintings inspired by the "Metamorphoses" and referred to by Titian himself as ‘poesie’, the visual equivalent of poetry, which he began producing for Philip II of Spain in 1551 and which also include "Danaë" (many versions, Philip's in the Prado, Madrid), "Venus and Adonis" (private collection, London, but also other versions), "Perseus and Andromeda" (Wallace Collection, London), "The Rape of Europa" (Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston), "Diana and Actaeon" and "Diana and Callisto" (shared by National Gallery of Scotland