CC0 · no rights reserved
Venus Wounded by a Rose's Thorn
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art. Free to download, adapt and use — no permission needed.
About this work
This composition alludes to The Lament for Adonis by the Greek poet Bion (active about 100 BCE). In the poem, Venus, distraught by the death of her lover Adonis, wanders barefoot in the woods and is wounded by brambles. Although Bion implores Venus to “weep no longer in the thickets,” the poem does not describe the moment depicted here when she plucks a thorn from her foot, imaginatively conceived as a vehicle to present a classical female nude. The wide-eyed hare near Venus is an ancient symbol of fertility and sexual desire.
Cleveland Museum of Art’s own descriptionCredit lineVenus Wounded by a Rose's Thorn, c. 1516. Marco Dente (Italian, c. 1486–1527), after Raphael (Italian, 1483–1520), published by Antonio Salamanca (c.1500–1562). Engraving; sheet: 26.1 x 16.8 cm (10 1/4 x 6 5/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Dudley P. Allen Fund, 1930.581
Similar works
Venus and the Rose
Venus removing a thorn from her left foot while seated on a cloth next to trees, a hare lower right
Venus removing a thorn from her left foot while seated on a cloth beside trees and foliage, a hare eating grass before her
Venus removing a thorn from her left foot while seated on a cloth beside trees and foliage, a hare eating grass before her
Venus Wounded by the Thorn of a Rose
Venus and the Rose