Minneapolis Institute of Art
Venus and Adonis
Nicolas Mignard (Mignard d'Avignon)LinkedCulture matchlcp-0830449b2d46
- Date
- c. 1650
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Department
- European Art
- Institution
- Minneapolis Institute of Art
- Object ID
- 3589
From the Minneapolis Institute of Art record
In Greek myth, Venus, the goddess of love and beauty, adored the handsome mortal Adonis. She warned him about the dangers of hunting, but he ignored her and was killed by a wild boar. Here, as he sets out, spear in hand and dogs in tow, she pleads with him to stay. Heartbroken at his death, she transformed his blood into anemones, the fragile flowers visible in the shadows behind her. This painting is in the classicizing style popular in France during the 1600s—a monumental composition with idealized, half-dressed figures. A gifted colorist, Mignard used bold color combinations and a luminous palette to brilliant effect in Adonis’s drapery and the purple canopy above Cupid. Europe
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Provenance & credit
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- Credit line
- Gift of Bruce B. Dayton
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