This elegant ivory statuette depicts Diana, Roman goddess of the hunt, accompanied by two graceful hunting dogs. The goddess stands in a modest contrapposto pose, her nude figure partially draped with a cloth that falls across her hips and cascades down one leg. Her classicizing features—downcast eyes, delicate nose, and softly modeled face—convey an idealized beauty characteristic of Kern's naturalistic style. Her hair is arranged in an elaborate coiffure with a center part and gathered locks. Two sleek hounds flank her figure: one stands alert at her left side with head raised, while the other sits attentively to her right, both rendered with careful attention to anatomical accuracy. The composition rests on an oval base, the figures carved with remarkable three-dimensionality that invites viewing from multiple angles.

 

The sculpture demonstrates the technical virtuosity for which Kern and his workshop were renowned. The smooth, luminous surface of the ivory has been skillfully exploited to suggest the softness of flesh and the sleek coats of the hounds. The drapery exhibits sophisticated carving technique, with folds that appear to fall naturally and create subtle plays of light and shadow across the ivory's surface. This attention to naturalistic detail combined with classicizing idealization reflects Kern's Italian training and his study of Renaissance sculpture.

 

Leonhard Kern was born on 22 November 1588 in Forchtenberg in Hohenlohe, the son of Michael Kern the Elder, a stonemason and builder. From 1603 to 1609, he trained as a sculptor with his older brother Michael Kern the Younger in Würzburg. Between 1609 and 1614, Kern undertook an extended study trip to Italy, spending two years in Rome where he devoted himself intensively to the study of Italian Renaissance sculpture, possibly attending life drawing classes at the Accademia di San Luca. He also traveled to Naples, Venice, and even ventured to North Africa during this formative period.

 

Upon his return to Germany around 1614, Kern married Amalia Zöllner, daughter of a clerk from Forchtenberg. The couple would have at least fourteen children, though most died in infancy or at a young age. Kern first worked in Forchtenberg and Heidelberg, where he was employed at the court of Elector Palatine Frederick V. His most famous commission from this period consists of the biblical figures he created for the portal of the west facade of the Nuremberg Town Hall in 1617.

 

The outbreak of the Thirty Years' War and the Palatinate's involvement in the conflict forced Kern to leave Heidelberg. On 24 March 1620, he became a citizen of the imperial city of Schwäbisch Hall, where he established his own workshop that would operate for over four decades. He became a master in Schwäbisch Hall in the same year. From 1651, he also worked from the small castle of Tullnau near Schwäbisch Hall, which he had purchased with his considerable earnings.

 

In Schwäbisch Hall, Kern specialized in producing small-scale sculptures and reliefs for collectors' cabinets, working in ivory, alabaster, boxwood, and occasionally bronze. This shift to small-scale work was partly necessitated by the Thirty Years' War, which made large commissions difficult to obtain and made smaller, transportable works more practical. His clients included bourgeois and aristocratic collectors throughout Europe, as well as the imperial family. In 1648, recognizing his exceptional abilities, Frederick William von Hohenzollern, Elector of Brandenburg, appointed him court sculptor.

 

Kern's individualistic classicizing style, shaped by his Italian studies, displays heavy features, calm stances, and compact, full bodies rendered with a naturalistic, monumental quality despite the small scale of his works. Unlike many of his more agitated and detailed contemporaries, Kern favored simplicity of surface and clarity of form. He nearly always portrayed his figures in the nude, believing this was the most effective way to demonstrate his superb carving technique. His work shows the influence of both Classical sculpture and Italian Renaissance masters, filtered through his distinctly German sensibility.

 

The sculptor rarely signed his works, and his extensive oeuvre consists largely of attributions and works assigned to his workshop. The present Diana exemplifies the type of mythological subject matter that appealed to 17th-century collectors: elegantly proportioned, technically accomplished, and suitable for display in the intimate setting of a Kunstkammer(cabinet of curiosities). Diana was a particularly appropriate subject for small-scale sculpture, combining classical learning with the aristocratic theme of hunting.