Venus and Adonis
Titian (Tiziano Vecellio) (Italian, Venetian, born ca. 1488, died 1576)
Oil on canvas; 42 x 52 1/2 in. (106.7 x 133.4 cm)
The Jules Bache Collection, 1949 (49.7.16)
Technical Glossary
Titian (Tiziano Vecellio) (Italian, Venetian, born ca. 1488, died 1576)
Oil on canvas; 42 x 52 1/2 in. (106.7 x 133.4 cm)
The Jules Bache Collection, 1949 (49.7.16)
Ovid, in his Metamorphoses, relates the story of the goddess Venus vainly trying to restrain her lover, the mortal Adonis, from departing for the hunt. The mood of playful sensuality conceals the tragic irony that Adonis is destined to be killed during the hunt by a wild boar. Titian painted two versions of the composition—one in 1554 for Philip II of Spain (now in the Prado, Madrid), and the other shortly before 1570 for the Farnese family (lost). The present picture is a version of the second composition, and since cleaning (1976) can be seen to have been painted in great part by Titian.
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Related Index Terms
Artist
Material and Technique
Subject Matter/Theme
- • Figure, Couples
- • Figure, Deity
- • Figure, Deity, Greek and Roman
- • Figure, Deity, Greek and Roman, Adonis
- • Figure, Deity, Greek and Roman, Aphrodite/Venus
- • Figure, Nude
- • Literature and Literary Connections
- • Literature and Literary Connections, Greek Poetry
- • Literature and Literary Connections, Greek Poetry, Ovid: Metamorphoses
