Prague School circa 1600
Venus and Adonis
Oil on panel (parquetted). 32.5 x 24.5 cm.
Ovid tells the tragic tale of Venus and Adonis in his Metamorphoses. Venus was accidently hit by one of her son's arrows, causing her to fall in love with Adonis. Knowing that he would be in grave danger if he went out to hunt, she tried to prevent him from leaving, but she did not succeed and Adonis was killed by a boar that he wounded.
This work shows Venus seated on a tree trunk, grasping her lover by the arm and denying him his hunting horn. Adonis stands beside her and holds the lance, with which he was to wound the boar, in his right hand. With his left, he points towards the horn which Venus keeps from him. Cupid also tries to help his mother to make him stay, but his weapons are already hanging from the tree behind them.
This work displays an exceptionally high quality of painting. The figure of Adonis indicates knowledge of ancient statuary, and all the figures illustrate the artist's familiarity with upper Italian cinquecento art. The background, on the other hand, illustrates reception of contemporary Flemish landscape painting, which had risen to international recognition around 1600 and was frequently copied. The panel must have been made around this time in an artistic climate receptive to diverse international influences.
The existence of a drawing illustrating a highly similar composition to this work, attributed to the Venetian school of the 16th century, testifies to the Italian influence (fig. 1.; see also.: Hans Tietze und Erika Tietze-Conrat: The Drawings of the Venetian Painters in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries, New York, 1944, no. A1421). The figural composition of the drawing is similar, and also includes the motif of Adonis pointing. The connection between the present panel and the Italian drawing is unclear, and it is not known whether there was another painting that inspired the present work.
Fig. 1: Venetian School, 16th century, Venus and Adonis, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin - Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Kupferstichkabinett I © bpk / Kupferstichkabinett, SMB / Dietmar Katz