Gorgeous and Handsome!

Venus and Adonis (1554, Titian of Venice, master of drama and rich color). Quite the pair: Gorgeous and Handsome! That’s Cupid asleep behind them, but earlier one of his stray arrows caught Venus while Adonis was passing, so now they’re love-mad. Here Adonis, quite the hunter, is insisting on going out for wild boar, generally ferocious. Concerned, Venus tries to restrain him. They share the briefest gaze. Alas, she fails, despite her obviously strong back and upper body. The boar Adonis finds gores him horribly, and he dies in Venus’s arms. From the mingling of his blood and her tears springs the anemone flower. (Some say the boar was Ares in disguise, a jealous lover of V. I wouldn’t put it past him.)