Artwork
Venus with the sleeping Adonis
Venus with the sleeping Adonis is an unspecified painting by the Mannerist artist Paolo Veronese. It dates from 1558 and is held in the collection of the Bavarian State Painting Collections.
About this work
Subject & Meaning
Venus, the goddess of love, is shown in a pose of gentle care, while Adonis, the handsome youth destined for a tragic hunt, rests unaware of his fate.
The painting presents Venus reclining beside the sleeping Adonis, a scene drawn from classical mythology. Venus, the goddess of love, is shown in a pose of gentle care, while Adonis, the handsome youth destined for a tragic hunt, rests unaware of his fate. This iconography emphasizes themes of love, beauty, and the fleeting nature of life, common in 16th-century mythological art.
The work belongs to the mythological painting genre and reflects the cultural fascination with antique narratives during the Renaissance.
Technique & Style
The work is an oil painting executed on canvas, as documented in its classification and confirmed by its material specifications. It measures 133.3 centimeters in height and 191.8 centimeters in width, reflecting its large-scale composition characteristic of Venetian Renaissance mythological paintings. The brushwork demonstrates Veronese’s hallmark use of rich color and dramatic lighting to model forms, with careful handling of light to suggest volume in the figures of Venus and Adonis.
The composition follows a classical arrangement, blending idealized anatomy with soft transitions of tone to convey sensuality and narrative stillness.
History & Provenance
The painting was created in 1558 by Paolo Veronese, as indicated by both the artist’s date and the work’s inception year recorded in the Bavarian State Painting Collections’ holdings.
By the mid-19th century, the work had entered the collection of King Ludwig I of Bavaria, whose acquisitions formed the nucleus of the Alte Pinakothek in Munich. It has remained in that institution ever since, where it is currently held as part of the Bavarian State Painting Collections.
Overview
Paolo Veronese’s 1558 oil painting Venus with the Sleeping Adonis presents a mythological tableau in which the goddess Venus stands beside a reclining Adonis. The composition is anchored by a pale‑skinned woman holding a mirror, a sleeping male figure, and a small child kneeling and reaching toward her. The background recedes into a dark, indistinct landscape under a stormy sky, creating a sense of depth through contrast.
Artist & collection
Artist
Paolo Caliari (1528 – 19 April 1588), known as Paolo Veronese ( VERR-ə-NAY-zay, -zee, US also -see; Italian: ), was an Italian Renaissance painter based in Venice, known for extremely large history paintings of…
Venus, von Mars belauscht
Venus Bewailing the Slain Adonis
Simson und Delila
Birth of Maria de Medici (study)
Hercules hos Omphale, omgivet af hendes veninder
Venus und Adonis (zugeschrieben)
Der Herbst
Galathea besucht Acis
Hercules hos Omphale, omgivet af hendes veninder
Mars, Venus og Amor
Bathseba im Bade- Venus and Adonis