Venus and Adonis
around 1595 (?) | Annibale Carracci
In “Metamorphoses” Ovid recalls the love story (later to end tragically) between Venus and Adonis. Inadvertently injured in the breast by an arrow from her son Cupid, Venus falls in love with the hunter Adonis who has suddenly appeared. Carracci’s seminal style employed shortly before he was summoned to Rome is clearly recognisable here despite the lack of absolute authenticity concerning the painting: he combines the ideal of beauty contained in late Titian and Tintoretto with figures closely embedded in the landscape as found in Veronese. Carracci is generally considered one of the founders of Baroque painting.
In “Metamorphoses” Ovid recalls the love story (later to end tragically) between Venus and Adonis. Inadvertently injured in the breast by an arrow from her son Cupid, Venus falls in love with the hunter Adonis who has suddenly appeared. Carracci’s seminal style employed shortly before he was summoned to Rome is clearly recognisable here despite the lack of absolute authenticity concerning the painting: he combines the ideal of beauty contained in late Titian and Tintoretto with figures closely embedded in the landscape as found in Veronese. Carracci is generally considered one of the founders of Baroque painting.
After:
Annibale Carracci (1560 Bologna - 1609 Rom) DNB
Time:
around 1595 (?)
Object Name
Painting
Culture
Italian, Emilian
Material/technology:
Canvas
Dimensions:
217 cm × 246 cm
Framed: 249 cm × 279 cm × 7 cm
Copyright
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Gemäldegalerie
Invs.
Gemäldegalerie, 234
Provenance
1773 from Coll. Ambras