Compare And Contrast Venus And Adonis

Venus and Adonis is a painting by the artist Titian in the late Renaissance period, more specifically 1550-1560. The painting was produced late in Titian’s career, in that it is some of his best work, but not so late that it was painted by assistants. It is painted on canvas with oil paints which is popular in a lot of Titian’s work. Venus and Adonis was a part of Titian’s collection “poesie”, which was a collection of paintings for King Philip II of Spain. Venus and Adonis is the story of the goddess Venus begging her love, Adonis, to not go hunting because she had a vision of him dying. She is pulling him back in vain, but in the end Adonis does go hunting and is killed by a boar. The painting is 42 x 52 1/2 inches, which is a medium size painting, this choice was made in order to frame the two main characters. In secondary focus are cupid, on the right hand side on the painting, who is watching as two lovers are pulled apart, and on the left hand side of the painting are Adonis’ …show more content…
The sun is in the top right corner, making it the brightest part of the painting. The right side of the painting, and the side of Adonis is clearly brighter showing how his mind is clearer and not heart broken like Venus. The left side, and the side of Venus is filled with darker muddy browns displaying her despair and melancholy. The brush strokes seem to be dynamic giving the painting life, although the painting is very fluid and blended even in the most minute of details. This is seen in the muscles of both of the figures. The back muscles of Venus and the forearm muscles of Adonis show off Titian’s incredible workmanship and skill. Titian’s has the ability to look back and make an astounding piece of art, with subjects that are not of his religion. This is an aspect of humanism, exhibiting the skill of using stories of other cultures to further the improvement of painting as an