Diana and Actaeon

The composition of this drawing is very close to that of a drawing by Rottenhammer formerly in the Norbert Roesler Collection, sold at Christie's, New York, 31 May 1990, lot 117, illustrated. The present drawing differs in a number of small details from the Roesler drawing; such as the number of nymphs, the pose of the river god and the addition of putti above the head of Diana. The subject was a popular one with Rottenhammer: a painting is in Munich, and two drawings in the Louvre (L. Demont, Inventaire général des dessins des écoles du nord, Ecoles allemandes et suisse, Paris, 1938, II, nos. 664-5, illustrated); and a lost composition was engraved after Sadeler (Hollstein, XXII, no. 59).
Braun was a painter and engraver active in Cologne in the early 17th Century. He engraved copies after Dürer, and painted altarpieces for churches in Cologne and views of Cologne.