Diana (mythology) the goddess of the woods, would bathe and rest after a hunt. Actaeon, a young hunter, stumbled across the grotto and accidentally witnessed the goddess bathing without invitation. In retaliation, Diana splashed him with water from the pool, cursing him, and he transformed into a deer. His own hunting dogs caught his scent, and tore him apart. Ovid's version of the myth of Actaeon differs from most earlier sources. Unlike earlier myths about Artemis, Actaeon is killed for an innocent mistake, glimpsing Diana bathing. An earlier variant of this myth, known as the Bath of Pallas, had the hunter intentionally
The Death of Actaeon Titian seems never to have resolved it to his satisfaction, and the painting apparently remained in his studio until his death in 1576. There has been considerable debate as to whether it is finished or not, as with other very late Titians, such as the "Flaying of Marsyas", which unlike this has a signature, perhaps an indication of completion. It is a sequel of Titian's work "Diana and Actaeon" showing the story's tragic conclusion, which approximately follows the Roman poet Ovid's account in the "Metamorphoses": after Actaeon surprised the goddess Diana bathing naked in the woods, she transformed him into