Venus and Adonis embracing after the hunt
1650–1700
Medium
Etching
Dimensions
sheet: 5 3/8 x 6 7/8 in. (13.7 x 17.5 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1951
Accession Number
51.501.4249
Rights
Public Domain
Art Historical Context
This etching, titled *Venus and Adonis Embracing After the Hunt*, captures a tender moment from classical mythology. The scene depicts the goddess Venus and her mortal lover Adonis sharing an intimate embrace following a hunt, a story drawn from Ovid’s *Metamorphoses*. Created between 1650 and 1700, the work is attributed to Pietro Testa or an anonymous 17th-century artist and exemplifies the Baroque period’s fascination with dramatic emotion and mythological narratives. Etching was a favored medium in the 17th century for its ability to produce fine lines and rich textures, making it ideal f...
About the Artist
Pietro Testa|Anonymous, 17th century · 1612–1650
Pietro Testa was born in Lucca in 1612 and, in accordance with the conventions of Italian artistic training, made his way to Rome while still young. There he studied under two of the leading painters of the early seventeenth century: Domenichino, from whom he absorbed a taste for classical restraint and narrative clarity, and Pietro da Cortona, whose more exuberant Baroque manner offered a contras...