Venus and Adonis (Titian, Rome)
Encyclopedia
Venus and Adonis is a painting by the Italian late Renaissance artist Titian
Titian
Tiziano Vecelli or Tiziano Vecellio Tiziano Vecelli or Tiziano Vecellio Tiziano Vecelli or Tiziano Vecellio (c. 1488/1490 – 27 August 1576 better known as Titian was an Italian painter, the most important member of the 16th-century Venetian school. He was born in Pieve di Cadore, near...

, executed around 1560. It is currently housed in the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica
Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica
The Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica, or National Gallery of Ancient Art, is an art gallery in Rome, Italy, located on two sites: the Palazzo Barberini and the Palazzo Corsini....

 in Rome. It is one of the numerous version of the same subject.

According to the German artist Friedrich Müller
Maler Müller
Friedrich Müller , German poet, dramatist and painter, is best known for his slightly sentimental prose idylls on countrylife. Usually known as Maler Müller .- Early life and education :...

, the painting was commissioned by Emperor Charles V
Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor
Charles V was ruler of the Holy Roman Empire from 1519 and, as Charles I, of the Spanish Empire from 1516 until his voluntary retirement and abdication in favor of his younger brother Ferdinand I and his son Philip II in 1556.As...

 and housed in Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...

. Later, King Gustavus II Adolf of Sweden sent it to Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...

; when the Swedish queen Christina of Sweden
Christina of Sweden
Christina , later adopted the name Christina Alexandra, was Queen regnant of Swedes, Goths and Vandals, Grand Princess of Finland, and Duchess of Ingria, Estonia, Livonia and Karelia, from 1633 to 1654. She was the only surviving legitimate child of King Gustav II Adolph and his wife Maria Eleonora...

 abdicated, she took the painting with her to Rome (1654). After her death, it was inherited by Cardinal Decio Azzolino
Decio Azzolino
Decio Azzolino , generally known as the Younger, was an Italian cardinal.He was born at Fermo, the son of Pompeo Azzolino and Giulia Ruffo, and great-nephew of Cardinal Decio Azzolino the Elder. He received doctorates in philosophy, juridics and theology from Fermo University...

; later it was acquired by the French regent Philippe II of Orléans
Philippe II, Duke of Orléans
Philippe d'Orléans was a member of the royal family of France and served as Regent of the Kingdom from 1715 to 1723. Born at his father's palace at Saint-Cloud, he was known from birth under the title of Duke of Chartres...

 and by the Russian emperor Paul I
Paul I of Russia
Paul I was the Emperor of Russia between 1796 and 1801. He also was the 72nd Prince and Grand Master of the Order of Malta .-Childhood:...

.

It returned to Italy from Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...

 thanks to the Venetian merchant Pietro Concolo, to be eventually bought by the Roman prince Giovanni Torlonia. In 1862 it was acquired by the collection of Palazzo Barberini
Palazzo Barberini
Palazzo Barberini is a palace in Rome, facing the piazza of the same name in Rione Trevi and is home to the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica.-History:...

, to which it currently belongs.

Overview

The painting's subject is taken from Ovid
Ovid
Publius Ovidius Naso , known as Ovid in the English-speaking world, was a Roman poet who is best known as the author of the three major collections of erotic poetry: Heroides, Amores, and Ars Amatoria...

, though with modifications (Adonis leaves Venus, and not the viceversa).

It portrays a young Adonis
Adonis
Adonis , in Greek mythology, the god of beauty and desire, is a figure with Northwest Semitic antecedents, where he is a central figure in various mystery religions. The Greek , Adōnis is a variation of the Semitic word Adonai, "lord", which is also one of the names used to refer to God in the Old...

, at dawn, with an unusual hunter berret, leaving Venus
Venus (mythology)
Venus is a Roman goddess principally associated with love, beauty, sex,sexual seduction and fertility, who played a key role in many Roman religious festivals and myths...

, who desperately tries to keep him with her. The scene symbolizes the force of the hunt call, in turn a metaphor of life and of wordly affairs, which is stronger than that of love (embodied by Eros
Eros
Eros , in Greek mythology, was the Greek god of love. His Roman counterpart was Cupid . Some myths make him a primordial god, while in other myths, he is the son of Aphrodite....

, sleeping under trees on the left). In the background is depicted a stormy sky, a hint to the tragedy which, according to Ovid's myth, is going to occur to Adonis.
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