Venus and Adonis

Ferdinand Bol, c. 1658

Bol here painted a scene from Ovid’s Metamorphoses. The goddess of love, Venus, and young Amor, try to deter Adonis from going on a boar hunt. Venus fears for his life. Bol – a pupil of Rembrandt – displays a smooth and bright manner of painting very different from his master’s darker, coarser style. Bol used it to conjure an idealized image of reality.

Artwork typepainting
Object numberSK-A-4823
Dimensionsheight 168 cm x width 230 cm, depth 6 cm
Physical characteristicsoil on canvas

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Margarita Trip as Minerva, Instructing her Sister Anna Maria Trip

Ferdinand Bol, 1663

Margarita Trip as Minerva, Instructing her Sister Anna Maria Trip

Hagar and the Angel at the Well on the Way to Shur

Ferdinand Bol, c. 1640

Hagar and the Angel at the Well on the Way to Shur

Minerva in her Study

Ferdinand Bol, c. 1636

Swooning Woman Supported by Two Figures

Ferdinand Bol, c. 1640

Identification

Title(s)
Venus and Adonis
Object type
Object number
SK-A-4823
Description
Venus en Adonis. De halfnaakte Venus en Cupido proberen Adonis te beletten op jacht te gaan. Rechtsonder twee witte duiven. De pijlenkoker van Adonis hangt aan de boom. Adonis heeft twee jachthonden bij zich.
Inscriptions / marks
signature: ‘FBol’

Creation

Creation
painter: Ferdinand Bol
Dating
c. 1658
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Material and technique

Physical description
oil on canvas
Dimensions
- height 168 cm x width 230 cm
- depth 6 cm

This work is about

Subject

Acquisition and rights

Credit line
Purchased with the support of the Rijksmuseum-Stichting
Acquisition
purchase 1983
Copyright
Public domain
Provenance
…; private collection England, 1907;{Note RKD.} …; sale, Cornelis Hoogendijk, Amsterdam (F. Muller) 8 April 1908, no. 18;…; the dealer Teunis Wollesen, Bad Oeynhausen, 1970;{Note RKD.}…; collection Freiherr von Lucius, Frankfurt am Main, 1972;{Note RKD.}…; from the dealer K & V Waterman to the museum, 1983
Remarks
Please note that this provenance was formulated with a special focus on provenance research for the years 1933-45 and could therefore be incomplete. There may be more (mostly earlier) provenance information known in the museum. In case this item has an uncertain or incomplete provenance for the years 1933-45, the Rijksmuseum welcomes information and assistance in the investigation and clarification of the provenance of all works during that era.