Oil painting on canvas, venus and adonis (after titian), attributed to miguel de la cruz (active c. 1630-1660). Adonis strides to the right of the scene, with a nude venus clutching his chest, three hunting dogs to his left. As related in the roman poet ovid?s metamorphoses (10:665-740), venus fell in love with the handsome, but mortal, hunter adonis. Because of her divinity she foresees his tragic fate. He ignores her plea to refrain from the hunt one day and is fatally wounded by a boar. The moment of his departure is dramatised here by venus's contorted pose (derived from a famous antique relief) whilst her son cupid, the god of love, sleeps in the left background.
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