Diana Raymakers was the daughter of Dr. G. Raymakers from Aarle-Rixtel in the Netherlands. They were vacationing in the area and saw my mother’s paintings in an exhibition in Seillans, a nearby village. Being fans of the Dutch painter Carel Willink they were taken with my mother’s use of symbolism in the background of her portraits. So they commissioned a large portrait of their daughter Diana. I’m not absolutely certain of her name as my mother’s diary refers to her as “Diana” but in her portfolio book she lists the painting as “Diane” although that is the typical French translation of Diana.

In the painting, the subject is posed with very dramatic lighting, a mix of warm yellow electric lighting, presumably coming from a villa’s interior, falling on the front of the subject which is set against the cold background of the moon lit landscape behind. Within that landscape is a statue of Diana the traditional Roman goddess of hunting, the moon and chastity. The statue looks very like the one called Diana of Versailles housed in the Musée du Louvre, Paris. Additionally, the goddess considers Cypress trees to be sacred and here we have two behind the statue. In the foreground there is a branch of Olive leaves, the traditional symbol for peace, perhaps to counteract hunting aspect of the goddess. Around the subject’s neck you can just make a St George medallion which I expect is just the jewelry she chose to wear for the sitting, along with the antique silver Thai arm cuff. I think both pieces of jewelry elevate the setting and make it to appear to be more at an evening event. I cannot be sure but I think the background mountains are the actual foothills and mountains from behind Fayence probably up towards Mons.

The diary also notes that the Raymakers were very pleased with the finished product and gave my mother a larger payment than she had asked which seems to have been a regular occurrence.

Diary Entries