Juno Turning Callisto into a Bear

In the foreground, a vengeful Juno stands over the fallen Callisto, seizing her by the hair and raising a fist to strike. To the left, Juno's chariot is attended by her symbolic peacocks, while in the background, a bear wanders through the landscape, signaling the nymph's impending metamorphosis. The scene is rendered with the dynamic tension and muscular anatomy characteristic of late 16th-century Dutch engraving.

This print belongs to a series illustrating Ovid's Metamorphoses, a text foundational to the Renaissance understanding of the mutable nature of physical forms and the origins of the celestial constellations. The myth of Callisto specifically explains the catasterism (transformation into stars) of Ursa Major, linking mythic narrative to early modern cosmological study.