3-079-585 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Atalanta, 1908. The sitter for Atalanta is the poetess Lady Margaret Sackville. According to Ovid's Metamorphoses, Atalanta was an athletic huntress who, when encouraged by her father to marry, made the condition that each suitor must face her in a race. If they lost, they were put to death. She was eventually beaten by one suitor, who dropped three golden apples during the race. She was so charmed by their beauty that she could not help but stop and gather them up.