One of the companions of Diana commissioned for the park at Marly, paid for between 1710 and 1716 and placed in the gardens in 1714. In 1722, it was moved to the Jardin de l'Infante in the Louvre, and from there to the Hôtel du Grand Maître in Versailles. In the 19th century, it passed into private collections, at which time it was altered: the two hands, in particular, have been recarved with modern accessories. Loaned to the Archives Nationales from 1951 to 1993.

In Roman mythology, Diana was the goddess of the hunt, the moon, and nature being associated with wild animals and woodland, and having the power to talk to and control animals. She was eventually equated with the Greek goddess Artemis, though she had an independent origin in Italy. Diana was worshipped in ancient Roman religion and is revered in Roman Neopaganism and Stregheria. Diana was known to be the virgin goddess of childbirth and women. She was one of the three maiden goddesses, along with Minerva and Vesta, who swore never to marry.

Oak groves were especially sacred to her as were deer. According to mythology (in common with the Greek religion and their deity Artemis), Diana was born with her twin brother, Apollo, on the island of Delos, daughter of Jupiter and Latona. She made up a triad with two other Roman deities: Egeria the water nymph, her servant and assistant midwife; and Virbius, the woodland god.