Joachim Anthonisz. Wtewael

Private collection, Utrecht;
Anonymous sale, Amsterdam, Christie's, June 20, 1989, lot 217 (as After Joachim Wtewael);
Anonymous sale, London, Phillips, April 6, 1995, lot 25 (unsold).

Horizontal join runs along the top third of panel. Panel is flat and beveled on at least two sides (left and right) and possibly shaved on top and bottom. Paint has somewhat thinned around sky, where it is originally thinly applied to begin with. U.V. light reveals retouching to area along join, as well as area along a now repaired crack which runs horizontally along bottom third of panel approximately eight inches long. U.V. light also reveals repairs made along pattern of wood grain, especially in the flesh tones of the figures. Small repairs to foliage are visible. Painting is in a carved and gilt wood frame.
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In his Metamorphoses (Book X 529-599 and 708-739), Ovid tells the story of the doomed love between Venus and the mortal hunter, Adonis. Grazed by one of Cupid's arrows, Venus becomes infatuated by the youthful, beautiful Adonis and strives to dissuade him from his dangerous pastime. Adonis fails to heed her advice and is subsequently killed by a wild boar.

In a woodland landscape, the present painting depicts Venus and Adonis embracing in the foreground as she begs him not to leave, and in the right background a small scale secondary scene of Adonis' dramatic death. With its graceful arrangement, delicate detail and dispersed narrative, the work is a sophisticated example of Wtewael's elegant aesthetic. Initially trained under his glassworker father, Wtewael turned to painting at the age of 18 and refined his style through six years of travel in France and Italy to become one of the leading exponents of Dutch Mannerism. A closely affiliated composition may be found in his rendition of the same subject in the Hohenbuchau Collection, Schlangenbad (see A. Lowenthal, Joachim Wtewael and Dutch Mannerism, Groningen, 1986, p. 122, no. A-47). The primary figures are identically positioned, but in the present painting the landscape view at the right is extended and elaborated to create a broader format. Two further versions of the same composition also exist, one attributed to Wtewael, the other considered a studio copy (see Lowenthal, op.cit., p. 160, no. B-1 and p. 169, no. C-49).

At the time of the London Phillips sale of April 6, 1995, Anne Lowenthal confirmed the attribution to Wtewael based on first hand inspection.