A woman in a flowing pink garment stands at the left edge, her body twisted as she draws a bow and looks intently toward the right. A brown dog leaps beside the black one, both heading toward a man on the right who is being attacked. The man at the right, partly nude and with stags’ antlers on his head, raises his left arm in defense as the dogs leap up at him.

His body twists away, and his face is turned upward in distress, while another dog bites at his thigh. The background is thick with trees, their trunks and foliage forming a dense forest, and a bright clearing appears in the distance. The ground is dark and uneven, with patches of green undergrowth and a lighter area that suggests water or mud between the main figures.

The scene is painted in rich, earthy tones: reds, browns, greens, and golds predominate, with highlights on the figures’ skin and Diana’s garment. Titian’s brushwork is loose and vigorous, especially in the foliage and sky, where the paint appears layered and textured. The composition leads from Diana’s tense form at the left, through the diagonal of the bow, to the chaos of the attack at the right. The Death of Actaeon was created by Titian between 1559 and 1575, according to the museum’s records.

The subject is drawn from classical mythology and shows Actaeon being attacked by his own hunting dogs. Diana, the goddess of the hunt, appears with bow and quiver, while Actaeon is marked by the antlers on his head. This painting is one of a series of large mythological works by Titian inspired by Ovid’s Metamorphoses, known as the ‘poesie’. The picture belongs to the Venetian school and is considered a late work in Titian’s career.