![TizianoVenereAdoneWashinghton](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d5/TizianoVenereAdoneWashinghton.jpg)
A composition of ''Venus and Adonis'' by the Venetian Renaissance artist
Titian
Tiziano Vecelli or Vecellio (; 27 August 1576), known in English as Titian ( ), was an Italians, Italian (Republic of Venice, Venetian) painter of the Renaissance, considered the most important member of the 16th-century Venetian school (art), ...
has been painted a number of times, by Titian himself, by his studio assistants and by others. In all there are some thirty versions that may date from the 16th century, the nudity of
Venus
Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is sometimes called Earth's "sister" or "twin" planet as it is almost as large and has a similar composition. As an interior planet to Earth, Venus (like Mercury) appears in Earth's sky never fa ...
undoubtedly accounting for this popularity. It is unclear which of the surviving versions, if any, is the original or
prime version
In the art world, if an artwork exists in several versions, the one known or believed to be the earliest is called the prime version. Many artworks produced in media such as painting or carved sculpture which create unique objects are in fact re ...
, and a matter of debate how much involvement Titian himself had with surviving versions. There is a precise date for only one version, that in the
Prado
The Prado Museum ( ; ), officially known as Museo Nacional del Prado, is the main Spanish national art museum
An art museum or art gallery is a building or space for the display of art, usually from the museum's own collection. It migh ...
in
Madrid
Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...
, which is documented in correspondence between Titian and
Philip II of Spain
Philip II) in Spain, while in Portugal and his Italian kingdoms he ruled as Philip I ( pt, Filipe I). (21 May 152713 September 1598), also known as Philip the Prudent ( es, Felipe el Prudente), was King of Spain from 1556, King of Portugal from ...
in 1554. However, this appears to be a later repetition of a composition first painted a considerable time earlier, possibly as early as the 1520s.
The Prado version is set at dawn and shows the young
Adonis
In Greek mythology, Adonis, ; derived from the Canaanite word ''ʼadōn'', meaning "lord". R. S. P. Beekes, ''Etymological Dictionary of Greek'', Brill, 2009, p. 23. was the mortal lover of the goddess Aphrodite.
One day, Adonis was gored by ...
pulling himself away from Venus, his lover. He carries a feathered spear or "dart", a weapon often used in hunting in the 16th century. The leads of his three hounds are wound around his arm at right. Under the trees behind them at left
Cupid
In classical mythology, Cupid (Latin Cupīdō , meaning "passionate desire") is the god of desire, lust, erotic love, attraction and affection. He is often portrayed as the son of the love goddess Venus (mythology), Venus and the god of war Mar ...
lies asleep, with his bow and quiver of arrows hanging from a tree; this is not a time for love. High in the sky, a figure rides a chariot; this is either Venus from later in the story, or
Apollo
Apollo, grc, Ἀπόλλωνος, Apóllōnos, label=genitive , ; , grc-dor, Ἀπέλλων, Apéllōn, ; grc, Ἀπείλων, Apeílōn, label=Arcadocypriot Greek, ; grc-aeo, Ἄπλουν, Áploun, la, Apollō, la, Apollinis, label= ...
or
Sol, representing the dawn. Venus sits on a rock covered with a rich tablecloth with gold braid edges and buttons (not a military jacket, as sometimes thought). Adonis has a horn hanging from his belt; his dress is classical, taken from Roman sculptures.
It is thought that the Roman poet
Ovid
Pūblius Ovidius Nāsō (; 20 March 43 BC – 17/18 AD), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a contemporary of the older Virgil and Horace, with whom he is often ranked as one of the th ...
was the main source, though other literary and visual sources have been suggested. In Book X of Ovid's ''
Metamorphoses
The ''Metamorphoses'' ( la, Metamorphōsēs, from grc, μεταμορφώσεις: "Transformations") is a Latin narrative poem from 8 CE by the Roman poet Ovid. It is considered his ''magnum opus''. The poem chronicles the history of the wo ...
'' Adonis is a beautiful youth, a royal orphan, who spends his time hunting. Venus falls in love with him after one of Cupid's arrows hits her by mistake. They hunt together, but she avoids the fiercer animals, and warns him about them, citing the story of
Atalanta
Atalanta (; grc-gre, Ἀταλάντη, Atalantē) meaning "equal in weight", is a heroine in Greek mythology.
There are two versions of the huntress Atalanta: one from Arcadia, whose parents were Iasus and Clymene and who is primarily known ...
. One day Adonis hunts alone and is gored by a wounded
wild boar
The wild boar (''Sus scrofa''), also known as the wild swine, common wild pig, Eurasian wild pig, or simply wild pig, is a suid native to much of Eurasia and North Africa, and has been introduced to the Americas and Oceania. The species is ...
. Venus, in the sky in her chariot, hears his cries but cannot save him. In some versions, the death of Adonis is shown in the distance to the right.
[Penny, 281] In Ovid, it is Venus who leaves first, and Adonis pulling himself away seems to be Titian's invention, for which some criticized him.
[Penny, 280]
![Ashmolean venus adonis](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9e/Ashmolean_venus_adonis.jpg)
Two basic types of the composition were described by
Harold Wethey
Harold Edwin Wethey (April 10, 1902 ― September 22, 1984) was an American art historian and educator. From 1940 to 1972, Wethey was a professor of art history at the University of Michigan.
Career
Born in Port Byron, Wethey received a Bachel ...
, who called them the "Prado" and "Farnese" types; the Prado type is most common and is described above.
[Penny, 280–283] Alternative terms are the "three-dog" and "two-dog" types. They are in most respects the same, but the Farnese type has a tighter crop on the subject and a wider shape, losing most of the sky. Adonis' raised hand is just below the picture edge, so the feathers on the spear are not seen, nor is the chariot in the sky, though the sun bursts through clouds in about the same place. There are only two hounds and no gold vessel on the ground at left. Cupid is brought closer to the main couple, and is now awake, holding a dove in his hands.
Prado type versions
The heights of these versions vary from 160–200 cm, but the widths are more consistent at 190–200 cm. All the Farnese versions are a good deal smaller, but their tighter composition makes the figures about the same size.
[Boy, 38]
Prado, Madrid
The version now in Madrid's
Museo del Prado
The Prado Museum ( ; ), officially known as Museo Nacional del Prado, is the main Spanish national art museum, located in central Madrid. It is widely considered to house one of the world's finest collections of European art, dating from the ...
is generally agreed to be the earliest of the surviving versions. Although not certainly documented until 1626, it is generally regarded as the painting documented as despatched to King
Philip II of Spain
Philip II) in Spain, while in Portugal and his Italian kingdoms he ruled as Philip I ( pt, Filipe I). (21 May 152713 September 1598), also known as Philip the Prudent ( es, Felipe el Prudente), was King of Spain from 1556, King of Portugal from ...
in London (he was then married to
Mary Tudor, and in fact not yet King of Spain, but King of England) by Titian in September 1554, as announced in a letter which survives. Philip received it in December, and wrote to a courtier complaining about "a fold made in packing". The Prado picture has a seam where two pieces of canvas were joined "which is indeed now very evident" on the picture.
A theory proposed by William R. (Roger) Rearick was that this first painting was in fact the "Lausanne" version, and Titian subsequently sent another version, the one now in the Prado, but this is rejected by
Nicholas Penny
Sir Nicholas Beaver Penny (born 21 December 1949) is a British art historian. From 2008 to 2015 he was director of the National Gallery in London.
Early life
Penny was educated at Shrewsbury School before he studied English at St Catharine ...
and remains controversial. Adonis looks older in this than other versions, and Venus' body is shorter; later versions may have been made by copying the London version, which was retained in the studio in Venice. The Prado version is at least mostly by Titian, though Penny finds the head of Venus "disappointing".
It was part of a series of mythological paintings called "''poesie''" ("poems") intended for King
Philip II of Spain
Philip II) in Spain, while in Portugal and his Italian kingdoms he ruled as Philip I ( pt, Filipe I). (21 May 152713 September 1598), also known as Philip the Prudent ( es, Felipe el Prudente), was King of Spain from 1556, King of Portugal from ...
. ''Venus and Adonis'' was designed to be viewed alongside
''Danaë'', the first of the ''poesie'', which was delivered in 1553, although they are not same size. A later version of ''Danaë'' is now shown in the same room in the Prado, with other Titians.
Titian explained in a letter to Philip that the two paintings would offer contrasting front and rear views of a nude Venus, thus allowing painting to compete with sculpture. This apart, contemporary accounts show the powerful effect these paintings had on male viewers. The squashed bottom of the sitting Venus here was still novel in art and considered exceptionally erotic. The Venetian critic
Lodovico Dolce
Lodovico Dolce (1508/10–1568) was an Italian man of letters and theorist of painting. He was a broadly based Venetian humanist and prolific author, translator, and editor; he is now mostly remembered for his ''Dialogue on Painting'' or ''L'Areti ...
praised (in the Prado version) the "marvellous piece of dexterity ... in that one recognises in her hindmost parts here the distension of the flesh caused by sitting ... there is no man so sharp of sight and discernment that he does not believe when he sees her that she is alive; no one so chilled by age or so hard in his makeup that he does not feel himself growing warm and tender, and the whole of his blood stirring in his veins."
That the female tries to physically restrain her lover from leaving her was also novel and effective, a gesture, not in any of Titian's sources, which by "transferring Venus's sense of loss at Adonis's death to his departure" brings "the two halves of the story together in a single moment of love and loss".
Writing of this and Titian's other mythological paintings from the same years,
Sydney Joseph Freedberg
Sydney Joseph Freedberg (November 11, 1914 – May 6, 1997) was an American art historian and curator, mainly of Italian Renaissance painting.
Freedberg was born in Boston and attended the Boston Latin School. He graduated from Harvard College i ...
said they "convey the sense that an extraordinary reach of classical expression has been achieved in them, as sensuous experience, as much as that of the spirit and the mind, assumes the stature of idea. ... As overt decorative virtue yields to depth of meaning in these works colour becomes quieter, but in compensation is infused by the rougher vibrance taken on by light".
"Lausanne version"
Once in a private
Lausanne
, neighboring_municipalities= Bottens, Bretigny-sur-Morrens, Chavannes-près-Renens, Cheseaux-sur-Lausanne, Crissier, Cugy, Écublens, Épalinges, Évian-les-Bains (FR-74), Froideville, Jouxtens-Mézery, Le Mont-sur-Lausanne, Lugrin (FR-74), ...
collection, it failed to sell at
Christie's
Christie's is a British auction house founded in 1766 by James Christie (auctioneer), James Christie. Its main premises are on King Street, St James's in London, at Rockefeller Center in New York City and at Alexandra House in Hong Kong. It is ...
in 1998, but was offered for auction at Sotheby's in 2022, with an estimate of 8 to 12 million pounds. It had been on loan to the
Ashmolean Museum
The Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology () on Beaumont Street, Oxford, England, is Britain's first public museum. Its first building was erected in 1678–1683 to house the cabinet of curiosities that Elias Ashmole gave to the University of ...
,
Oxford
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
.
The death of Adonis is included in the background, and the figure in the chariot in the sky is certainly Venus as it is pulled by swans, a traditional attribute.
William R. (Roger) Rearick has suggested that this painting is the first version sent to
Philip II of Spain
Philip II) in Spain, while in Portugal and his Italian kingdoms he ruled as Philip I ( pt, Filipe I). (21 May 152713 September 1598), also known as Philip the Prudent ( es, Felipe el Prudente), was King of Spain from 1556, King of Portugal from ...
in the 1550s, about whose condition Philip complained on arrival, perhaps mistaking a seam in the canvas for a fold. According to this hypothesis, the "Lausanne" painting was returned to Venice, and replaced by the version now in Madrid. Penny is unconvinced by these "extraordinary claims", seeing it as a repetition based on the London version.
It was certainly in the
Orleans Collection
The Orleans Collection was a very important collection of over 500 paintings formed by Philippe d'Orléans, Duke of Orléans, mostly acquired between about 1700 and his death in 1723. Apart from the great royal-become-national collections of Euro ...
, and was very probably before that one of the two versions in the collection of Queen
Christina of Sweden
Christina ( sv, Kristina, 18 December ( New Style) 1626 – 19 April 1689), a member of the House of Vasa, was Queen of Sweden in her own right from 1632 until her abdication in 1654. She succeeded her father Gustavus Adolphus upon his death ...
in Rome, and looted by the Swedes from the collection of
Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor
Rudolf II (18 July 1552 – 20 January 1612) was Holy Roman Emperor (1576–1612), King of Hungary and Croatia (as Rudolf I, 1572–1608), King of Bohemia (1575–1608/1611) and Archduke of Austria (1576–1608). He was a member of the Hous ...
in
Prague Castle
Prague Castle ( cs, Pražský hrad; ) is a castle complex in Prague 1 Municipality within Prague, Czech Republic, built in the 9th century. It is the official office of the President of the Czech Republic. The castle was a seat of power for kin ...
in 1648. After the Orleans Collection was dispersed, it belonged to the artist
Benjamin West
Benjamin West, (October 10, 1738 – March 11, 1820) was a British-American artist who painted famous historical scenes such as '' The Death of Nelson'', ''The Death of General Wolfe'', the '' Treaty of Paris'', and '' Benjamin Franklin Drawin ...
.
It was then little seen in public for a long time, until in 2007 it was exhibited for at an exhibition of Titian paintings in
Belluno
Belluno (; lld, Belum; vec, Belùn) is a town and province in the Veneto region of northern Italy. Located about north of Venice, Belluno is the capital of the province of Belluno and the most important city in the Eastern Dolomites region ...
. Soon after it was for several years on loan to the
Ashmolean Museum
The Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology () on Beaumont Street, Oxford, England, is Britain's first public museum. Its first building was erected in 1678–1683 to house the cabinet of curiosities that Elias Ashmole gave to the University of ...
,
Oxford
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
.
National Gallery, London
Dated c. 1554 and attributed to Titian's workshop, although the master himself may have done the "bold underdrawing", and painted the head of Adonis and Venus' hair.
![Titian - Venus and Adonis - WGA22906](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/48/Titian_-_Venus_and_Adonis_-_WGA22906.jpg)
Penny proposes that it was the "studio model" kept in Venice when the Prado version was sent to Madrid, and including minor improvements to the composition, which can then be seen being followed in later versions (of the Prado type), that were made by copying it. These would include the Getty, Lausanne and Rome versions, which have the main features in sufficiently identical positions to the London version to have been traced from it, which would not have worked from the Prado version. But the composition continued to develop and there are details and similarities between the Prado and London versions which are not shared by others. These include the following: Adonis has no undergarment covering his shoulder and upper arm (to the right); Venus does not sit on a white cloth; the mouth of the vessel faces away from the viewer. Conversely, examples of details not in the Prado version, but in the London and other versions are the string of pearls in Venus' hair, and a larger gap between Adonis' face and the strap over his chest.
[Penny, 282]
It cannot be traced back further than the Salviati collection in the 17th century. It was one of thirty-eight paintings from
John Julius Angerstein
John Julius Angerstein (1735 – 22 January 1823) was a London businessman and Lloyd's underwriter, a patron of the fine arts and a collector. It was the prospect that his collection of paintings was about to be sold by his estate in 1824 ...
's collection acquired by the British government in 1824 for £57,000 which formed the original nucleus of the
National Gallery
The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current Director o ...
.
J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu
The version in the
J. Paul Getty Museum
The J. Paul Getty Museum, commonly referred to as the Getty, is an art museum in Los Angeles, California housed on two campuses: the Getty Center and Getty Villa.
The Getty Center is located in the Brentwood, Los Angeles, Brentwood neighborhood ...
, is dated to 1555–60. The museum attribute it to Titian, though others are not so sure. Penny sees it as a workshop replica based on the London version, but "a good case could be made for his intervention" in places, such as "the painting of the tremulous lights" on the cloth Venus sits on.
[Penny, 283]
Its provenance begins in an inventory of 1648 in
Genoa
Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the List of cities in Italy, sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian ce ...
, and then includes
Christina of Sweden
Christina ( sv, Kristina, 18 December ( New Style) 1626 – 19 April 1689), a member of the House of Vasa, was Queen of Sweden in her own right from 1632 until her abdication in 1654. She succeeded her father Gustavus Adolphus upon his death ...
and the
Orleans Collection
The Orleans Collection was a very important collection of over 500 paintings formed by Philippe d'Orléans, Duke of Orléans, mostly acquired between about 1700 and his death in 1723. Apart from the great royal-become-national collections of Euro ...
. Like most of the collection, it was bought by a consortium in London after the
French Revolution
The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...
. It was selected by a member of the consortium,
Frederick Howard, 5th Earl of Carlisle
Frederick Howard, 5th Earl of Carlisle (28 May 1748 – 4 September 1825) was a British peer, statesman, diplomat, and author.
Life
He was the son of Henry Howard, 4th Earl of Carlisle and his second wife Isabella Byron. His mother was a ...
, as part of his share, although he did not keep it long. From 1844 to 1991 it was in the collection of successive
Earls of Normanton and relatives. The museum acquired the painting in 1992.
Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica, Rome
The
Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica
The Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica or National Gallery of Ancient Art is an art museum in Rome, Italy. It is the principal national collection of older paintings in Rome – mostly from before 1800; it does not hold any antiquities. It has two ...
(
Palazzo Barberini
The Palazzo Barberini ( en, Barberini Palace) is a 17th-century palace in Rome, facing the Piazza Barberini in Rione Trevi. Today, it houses the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica, the main national collection of older paintings in Rome.
History
T ...
) in Rome has a version supposedly executed around 1560. It gives Adonis a jaunty hat with a feather which is also seen in the Dulwich version below, and a reduced (much smaller) version at
Alnwick Castle
Alnwick Castle () is a castle and country house in Alnwick in the English county of Northumberland. It is the seat of the 12th Duke of Northumberland, built following the Norman conquest and renovated and remodelled a number of times. It is a G ...
, once thought to be Titian's ''
modello
A modello (plural modelli), from Italian, is a preparatory study or model, usually at a smaller scale, for a work of art or architecture, especially one produced for the approval of the commissioning patron. The term gained currency in art circl ...
'', an idea now discounted.
The Titian scholar
Harold Wethey
Harold Edwin Wethey (April 10, 1902 ― September 22, 1984) was an American art historian and educator. From 1940 to 1972, Wethey was a professor of art history at the University of Michigan.
Career
Born in Port Byron, Wethey received a Bachel ...
called the hat "ridiculous" and "preposterous", and considered Titian had no hand in the Rome version, a "mediocre school piece".
According to
Nicholas Penny
Sir Nicholas Beaver Penny (born 21 December 1949) is a British art historian. From 2008 to 2015 he was director of the National Gallery in London.
Early life
Penny was educated at Shrewsbury School before he studied English at St Catharine ...
this was "almost certainly" not one of the two versions in the collection of Queen
Christina of Sweden
Christina ( sv, Kristina, 18 December ( New Style) 1626 – 19 April 1689), a member of the House of Vasa, was Queen of Sweden in her own right from 1632 until her abdication in 1654. She succeeded her father Gustavus Adolphus upon his death ...
in Rome, as is often claimed. He says these are the "Lausanne version" and the Getty version.
It was owned by the Russian emperor
Paul I Paul I may refer to:
*Paul of Samosata (200–275), Bishop of Antioch
*Paul I of Constantinople (died c. 350), Archbishop of Constantinople
*Pope Paul I (700–767)
*Paul I Šubić of Bribir (c. 1245–1312), Ban of Croatia and Lord of Bosnia
*Paul ...
. It returned to Italy from
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
thanks to the Venetian merchant Pietro Concolo, to be eventually bought by the Roman
Giovanni Torlonia, 1st Prince of Civitella-Cesi Giovanni Raimondo Torlonia (May 1755 – February 25, 1829) was a famous Franco-Italian banker to the Vatican and noble of the Torlonia family.
In 1785 he inherited the fortune of his father Marino Torlonia (1725–1785; in early life Marin Torloni ...
. In 1862 it was acquired by the collection of
Palazzo Barberini
The Palazzo Barberini ( en, Barberini Palace) is a 17th-century palace in Rome, facing the Piazza Barberini in Rione Trevi. Today, it houses the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica, the main national collection of older paintings in Rome.
History
T ...
, now the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica.
Dulwich Picture Gallery, London
Another version with the hat.
The museum says: "Recent conservation work has enabled us to confirm that rather than being a late 17th-century copy, this painting is very likely to have been made in Titian's workshop in the second half of the 16th century." It is dated 1554–1576, and has been in the museum since 1811.
Other versions
At least one other version may well be from Titian's workshop. One was long at
Rokeby Park
Rokeby Park is a country house in the Palladian style in the civil parish of Rokeby, in Northern England. It is close to the confluence of the River Tees and River Greta, near Greta Bridge in what is now County Durham. It was historically in the ...
and sold at Christie's on 10 July 2003, going to a private collection. It is now at
Hatchlands Park
Hatchlands Park is a red-brick country house with surrounding gardens in East Clandon, Surrey, England, covering 170 hectares (430 acres). It is located near Guildford along the A246 between East Clandon and West Horsley. Hatchlands Park has be ...
in
Surrey
Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...
, a
National Trust
The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...
property. This has been damaged and overpainted, but might have been another version kept as a studio model, as with the London version.
A version in a
Moscow
Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...
private collection said to date from 1542–46 has recently been promoted from status as a copy, and would represent the earliest known version of the Prado type, from some ten years earlier.
Farnese type versions
![Venus and Adonis MET DT5111](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/31/Venus_and_Adonis_MET_DT5111.jpg)
The Farnese type is named after a painting once in the
Farnese Collection
The classical sculptures in the Farnese Collection, one aspect of this large art collection, are one of the first collections of artistic items from Greco-Roman Antiquity. It includes some of the most influential classical works, including the sc ...
and then the royal collection in
Naples
Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...
but now lost, or lost sight of. However it is known from a "very careful drawing" (1762) and subsequent
engraving
Engraving is the practice of incising a design onto a hard, usually flat surface by cutting grooves into it with a Burin (engraving), burin. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or Glass engraving, glass ...
(1769) by
Robert Strange.
See above for the differences to the Prado version. It is often thought that this was the earlier of the two types, possibly originating in the 1520s, although the matter is not certain, and it seems clear that both types continued to be produced until late in Titian's career, and developing details in the Prado type composition appear in Farnese versions.
The National Gallery has a small ''Boy with a Bird'' which is effectively the detail of Cupid, except lacking his wings. This used to be thought to be 17th-century, but is now attributed to Titian's workshop, or even Titian himself, and to date from relatively early, probably the 1520s.
National Gallery of Art, Washington
![Arolsen Klebeband 13 145](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5f/Arolsen_Klebeband_13_145.jpg)
Dated c. 1560, and attributed by them to Titian. To Penny it seems "largely autograph" (by Titian himself), and from the various differences in detail he suggests it was "planned, if not painted, at the same time as
he Prado version, that is 1554
He or HE may refer to:
Language
* He (pronoun), an English pronoun
* He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ
* He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets
* He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...
or perhaps a little earlier". It was engraved by
Raphael Sadeler II in 1610.
Alone among the versions described here, a small spring or stream falls to the left of the figures. Owned by Anne Russell Digby, wife of
George Digby, 2nd Earl of Bristol
George Digby, 2nd Earl of Bristol, (bapt. 5 November 161220 March 1677) was an English politician who as Lord Digby (a courtesy title) sat in the House of Commons from 1640 until 1641, when he was raised to the House of Lords by a writ of acc ...
, it was inherited by the
Spencer family
The Spencer family is an aristocratic family in the United Kingdom. From the 16th century, its members have held numerous titles including the dukedom of Marlborough, the earldoms of Sunderland and Spencer, and the Churchill barony. Two prom ...
in 1685, in whose hands it remained until 1924. It was then sold to various British and American art dealers, and acquired in 1942 by the
National Gallery of Art
The National Gallery of Art, and its attached Sculpture Garden, is a national art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, located on the National Mall, between 3rd and 9th Streets, at Constitution Avenue NW. Open to the public and free of char ...
.
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
The
Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...
in New York has a Farnese type version, with minor differences, of which they say: "This version was painted at the end of his career and its high quality shows that it was carried out by the artist himself." Penny thinks that it is "partly" by Titian.
It was formerly in the collection of the
Earls of Darnley
Earl of Darnley is a hereditary title that has been created three times, twice in the Peerage of Scotland and once in the Peerage of Ireland.
The first creation in the Scots Peerage came in 1580 in favour of Esme Stewart, 1st Earl of Lennox ...
.
Origin of the composition
![Sala de Tiziano en el Museo del Prado](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/87/Sala_de_Tiziano_en_el_Museo_del_Prado.jpg)
Although the best surviving examples of the Farnese or two-dog type appear to be at least as late as the Prado type, it may be that this was the original composition.
Paul Joannides has suggested this, hypothesising that the original lost Farnese painting, or yet another version, may date back to the 1520s or even earlier. It is conceded that the tighter composition is more dramatic, and the "extended" left side of the Prado type has been described as "confusing" in all versions,
the "pose and position" of the new third hound at the rear "complicated and difficulty to decipher", and the whole "clumsy as an arrangement".
Evidence of the possible earliest version is a miniature painting on
parchment
Parchment is a writing material made from specially prepared untanned skins of animals—primarily sheep, calves, and goats. It has been used as a writing medium for over two millennia. Vellum is a finer quality parchment made from the skins of ...
at
Burleigh House
Burleigh Hall was a country house situated near Loughborough in the county of Leicestershire. Its land now forms part of the campus of Loughborough University.
History
An early reference to the Burleigh estate describes how during the March 164 ...
by the English
portrait miniaturist
A portrait miniature is a miniature portrait painting, usually executed in gouache, watercolor, or enamel. Portrait miniatures developed out of the techniques of the miniatures in illuminated manuscripts, and were popular among 16th-century el ...
Peter Oliver of a lost version owned by
Thomas Howard, 21st Earl of Arundel
Thomas Howard, 14th Earl of Arundel KG, (7 July 1585 – 4 October 1646) was a prominent English courtier during the reigns of King James I and King Charles I, but he made his name as a Grand Tourist and art collector rather than as a politic ...
. It is dated 1631 and was painted for
Charles I of England
Charles I (19 November 1600 – 30 January 1649) was King of England, Scotland, and Ireland from 27 March 1625 until Execution of Charles I, his execution in 1649. He was born into the House of Stuart as the second son of King James VI of ...
. In this composition, broadly of the Farnese type, Adonis does not hold a spear but has his arm around Venus. The original Howard painting seems to have been one destroyed in
Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
in 1945, and known only from black and white photographs. It was never catalogued as by Titian himself at Vienna, and was probably a studio copy of a lost original. Details of the forms and colours in these copies suggest Titian's style from the 1520s or late 1510s, and it is suggested that they record a first rendering of the subject from this period.
The increased size may have been dictated by King Philip. We know that Philip's version was intended as a pair with his version of the ''
Danaë
In Greek mythology, Danaë (, ; ; , ) was an Argive princess and mother of the hero Perseus by Zeus. She was credited with founding the city of Ardea in Latium during the Bronze Age.
Family
Danae was the daughter and only child of King Acris ...
'', which was also a changed and extended version of a subject first painted for the Farnese (the version now in
Naples
Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...
). The height of the Naples ''Danaë'' is the same as that recorded for the lost Farnese ''Venus and Adonis''.
[Boy, 39]
The pose of Venus had precedents in a well-known classical
relief
Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term ''relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that the ...
called ''il letto di Polyclito'' (the ''Bed of Polyclitus''), where the female is
Psyche
Psyche (''Psyché'' in French) is the Greek term for "soul" (ψυχή).
Psyche may also refer to:
Psychology
* Psyche (psychology), the totality of the human mind, conscious and unconscious
* ''Psyche'', an 1846 book about the unconscious by Car ...
(though in the 16th century thought to be Venus with Vulcan). She sits on a bed containing her sleeping partner, and twists round to see him, supporting herself on the bed with one arm, and lifting the covers with the other. Titian had various opportunities to see versions or copies of this very well-known composition. It had already been used by
Raphael
Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino, better known as Raphael (; or ; March 28 or April 6, 1483April 6, 1520), was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. List of works by Raphael, His work is admired for its clarity of form, ease of ...
's workshop in their
fresco
Fresco (plural ''frescos'' or ''frescoes'') is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaste ...
s in the
Villa Farnesina
The Villa Farnesina is a Renaissance suburban villa in the Via della Lungara, in the district of Trastevere in Rome, central Italy.
Description
The villa was built for Agostino Chigi, a rich Sienese banker and the treasurer of Pope Julius II. Be ...
in Rome, for
Hebe in the ''
Feast of the Gods''.
Giulio Romano
Giulio Romano (, ; – 1 November 1546), is the acquired name of Giulio Pippi, who was an Italian painter and architect. He was a pupil of Raphael, and his stylistic deviations from High Renaissance classicism help define the sixteenth-centu ...
had used it in the
Palazzo del Tè in
Mantua
Mantua ( ; it, Mantova ; Lombard language, Lombard and la, Mantua) is a city and ''comune'' in Lombardy, Italy, and capital of the Province of Mantua, province of the same name.
In 2016, Mantua was designated as the Italian Capital of Culture ...
, for a ''Baachus and Ariadne''. Titian rarely comes so close to quoting another work.
Like other painters at various periods, Titian was often receptive to requests for repetitions of earlier compositions of various types. A number of his mythological nudes were copied especially often. There are at least five versions from him or his workshop of the ''Danaë'', also falling into two main types, one first painted for the Farnese and the other for Philip II. ''
Venus and Musician'' is another nude subject with several versions, in two main types, one with an organist and one with a lutenist. Venus is accompanied on her pillows either by a lapdog (of differing species) or a cupid.
In literature
![Venus and Adonis, Titian](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a8/Venus_and_Adonis%2C_Titian.jpg)
The Spanish dramatist
Lope de Vega
Félix Lope de Vega y Carpio ( , ; 25 November 156227 August 1635) was a Spanish playwright, poet, and novelist. He was one of the key figures in the Spanish Golden Age of Baroque literature. His reputation in the world of Spanish literature ...
(1562–1635) was "fascinated" by the painting, and mentions it in several plays, with a print of it featuring as a stage prop in one of them.
''
Venus and Adonis'' is a narrative poem by
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
that was published in 1593 and is probably Shakespeare's first publication. As noted by
Erwin Panofsky
Erwin Panofsky (March 30, 1892 in Hannover – March 14, 1968 in Princeton, New Jersey) was a German-Jewish art historian, whose academic career was pursued mostly in the U.S. after the rise of the Nazi regime.
Panofsky's work represents a hig ...
, the poem has similarities with Titian's painting, general ones in that Venus has difficulty attracting the very young Adonis, and the specific detail of Venus trying to physically restrain him from going hunting, as in the Titian.
Possible timeline
Summarizing the complicated history of the versions above, a possible timeline is:
*1518 to 1520s: National Gallery ''Boy with a Dove''.
*mid-1520s: Putative lost original of the Farnese type, with no spear.
*1542–46: Newly promoted Moscow version, if so the first of the Prado type
*mid-1540s: Lost version for the Farneses.
*1554: Prado version for Philip of Spain, with London version around the same time.
[Penny, 280, 282] Penny suggests that the Washington and Metropolitan Farnese versions date from little after, in that order.
*1554 to 1560 or later: Lausanne, Getty, Rome, and Dulwich versions.
Titian's ''poesie'' series for Philip II
*
''Danaë'', delivered to Philip 1553, now
Wellington Collection
The Wellington Collection is a large art and militaria collection housed at Apsley House in London. It mainly consists of paintings, including 83 formerly in the Spanish royal collection, given to Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, who was P ...
, with earlier and later versions.
* ''Venus and Adonis'', Museo del Prado, delivered 1554, and several other versions
* ''
The Rape of Europa'', c. 1560–62,
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum is an art museum in Boston, Massachusetts, which houses significant examples of European, Asian, and American art. Its collection includes paintings, sculpture, tapestries, and decorative arts. It was founded ...
*
''Diana and Actaeon'', 1556–59, owned jointly by London's
National Gallery
The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current Director o ...
and the
National Gallery of Scotland
The Scottish National Gallery (formerly the National Gallery of Scotland) is the national art gallery of Scotland. It is located on The Mound in central Edinburgh, close to Princes Street. The building was designed in a neoclassical style by Wi ...
in Edinburgh
* ''
Diana and Callisto
''Diana and Callisto'' is a painting completed between 1556 and 1559 by the Italian late Renaissance artist Titian. It portrays the moment in which the goddess Diana discovers that her maid Callisto has become pregnant by Jupiter. The paintin ...
'', 1556–59, owned jointly by London's
National Gallery
The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current Director o ...
and the
National Gallery of Scotland
The Scottish National Gallery (formerly the National Gallery of Scotland) is the national art gallery of Scotland. It is located on The Mound in central Edinburgh, close to Princes Street. The building was designed in a neoclassical style by Wi ...
in Edinburgh
* ''
Perseus and Andromeda
In Greek mythology, Andromeda (; grc, Ἀνδρομέδα, Androméda or , ''Andromédē'') is the daughter of the king of Aethiopia, Cepheus, and his wife, Cassiopeia. When Cassiopeia boasts that she is more beautiful than the Nereids, Posei ...
'',
Wallace Collection
The Wallace Collection is a museum in London occupying Hertford House in Manchester Square, the former townhouse of the Seymour family, Marquesses of Hertford. It is named after Sir Richard Wallace, who built the extensive collection, along w ...
, c. 1553–62
* ''
The Death of Actaeon
''The Death of Actaeon'' is a late work by the Italian Renaissance painter Titian, painted in oil on canvas from about 1559 to his death in 1576 and now in the National Gallery in London. It is very probably one of the two paintings the artist st ...
'',
National Gallery
The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current Director o ...
, never delivered and not always counted in the series, c. 1559 onwards
File:Tizian - Danae receiving the Golden Rain - Prado.jpg, ''Danaë''
File:Venus and Adonis by Titian.jpg, ''Venus and Adonis''
File:Titian - Diana and Actaeon - Google Art Project.jpg, ''Diana and Actaeon''
File:TitianDianaCallistoEdinburgh.jpg, ''Diana and Callisto
''Diana and Callisto'' is a painting completed between 1556 and 1559 by the Italian late Renaissance artist Titian. It portrays the moment in which the goddess Diana discovers that her maid Callisto has become pregnant by Jupiter. The paintin ...
''
File:Perseo y Andrómeda, por Tiziano.jpg, ''Perseus and Andromeda
In Greek mythology, Andromeda (; grc, Ἀνδρομέδα, Androméda or , ''Andromédē'') is the daughter of the king of Aethiopia, Cepheus, and his wife, Cassiopeia. When Cassiopeia boasts that she is more beautiful than the Nereids, Posei ...
''
File:Tizian 085.jpg, ''The Rape of Europa''
File:Titian - The Death of Actaeon - Google Art Project.jpg, ''The Death of Actaeon
''The Death of Actaeon'' is a late work by the Italian Renaissance painter Titian, painted in oil on canvas from about 1559 to his death in 1576 and now in the National Gallery in London. It is very probably one of the two paintings the artist st ...
''
Notes
References
* Barkan, Leonard, ''Unearthing the Past: Archaeology and Aesthetics in the Making of Renaissance Culture'', 1999, Yale University Press, , 9780300089110
* "Boy":
Joannides, Paul and Dunkerton, Jill, "A Boy with a Bird in the National Gallery: Two Responses to a Titian Question", ''National Gallery Technical Bulletin'', Volume 27, 2007,
PDF online*Bull, Malcolm, ''The Mirror of the Gods, How Renaissance Artists Rediscovered the Pagan Gods'', Oxford UP, 2005,
*Falomir, Miguel
Prado video (6.42)on ''Venus and Adonis'' and ''Danaë '' (Prado and Wellington versions), for the 2015 exhibition "Tiziano: Dánae, Venus y Adonis. Las primeras poesías". Spanish with English subtitles.
*
Freedberg, Sydney J. ''Painting in Italy, 1500–1600'', 3rd edn. 1993, Yale,
*Jaffé, David (ed), ''Titian'', The National Gallery Company/Yale, London 2003,
*
Penny, Nicholas, National Gallery Catalogues (new series): ''The Sixteenth Century Italian Paintings, Volume II, Venice 1540–1600'', 2008, National Gallery Publications Ltd,
*Magri, Noemi, "Titian's Barberini Painting: the Pictorial Source of Venus and Adonis" in ''Great Oxford: Essays on the Life and Work of Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, 1550–1604'', ed. Richard Malim, 79–90, 2004, De Vere Society
google books*Rearick, W. R. "Titian's Later Mythologies." 23, ''Artibus Et Historiae'' 17, no. 33 (1996): 23–67. doi:10.2307/1483551
Further reading
*Falomir, Miguel, Joannides, Paul, "Danaë and Venus and Adonis: Origin and Development" / " Dánae y Venus y Adonis, las primeras poesías de Tiziano para Felipe II", Boletín del Museo del Prado, 2014, pp. 7–51
summarized in English by the Prado* Hale, Sheila, ''Titian: His Life'', HarperCollins, New York, NY, 2012,
*
Panofsky, Erwin, ''Problems in Titian, Mostly Iconographic'', 1969
{{DEFAULTSORT:Venus And Adonis
1550s paintings
1560s paintings
Paintings by Titian in the Museo del Prado
Collections of the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica
Collections of the National Gallery of Art
Paintings in the collection of the J. Paul Getty Museum
Collections of the National Gallery, London
Dogs in paintings by Titian
Nude art
Mythological paintings by Titian
Paintings in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Paintings of Venus
Paintings based on Metamorphoses
Paintings of Cupid
Paintings in the Dulwich Picture Gallery
Paintings formerly in the Orleans Collection