Venus Discovering the Dead Body of Adonis

Trastevere, Gianicolo, Testaccio

Venus Discovering the Dead Body of Adonis
The painting depicts the final moment in the myth of Adonis, the handsome son of King Cinyras, with whom the goddess Venus fell in love. He was killed by a wild boar during a hunt (Ovid, Metamorphoses). The painting shows the shocked Venus as she finds the bloody, lifeless body of Adonis.