The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 29, 2024

Venus Wounded by a Rose's Thorn

Venus Wounded by a Rose's Thorn

c. 1516
(Italian, c. 1486–1527)

after Raphael

(Italian, 1483–1520)
published by
(c.1500–1562)
Sheet: 26.1 x 16.8 cm (10 1/4 x 6 5/8 in.)
Catalogue raisonné: Bartsch XIV.241.321 (as Marc. Raimondi, XIV.241) Le B.II.111.18; Ottley II.261
Location: not on view

Did You Know?

The story featured here has been used to explain why some roses are red: they were stained with the blood of Venus after she pricked herself while walking in the forest.

Description

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.
  • ?–1930
    (M. Knoedler & Co., Inc., New York, NY), sold to The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
    October 27, 1930–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Love Gardens / Forbidden Fruit. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 2-October 29, 2023).
    Gods and Heroes: Ancient Legends in Renaissance Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 26-December 31, 2017).
    Main Gallery Rotation (gallery 117): October 7, 2013 - January 21, 2014.
    Mannerism: Italian, French, and Netherlandish Prints, 1520-1620. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 3-October 26, 1997).
  • {{cite web|title=Venus Wounded by a Rose's Thorn|url=false|author=Marco Dente, Raphael, Antonio Salamanca|year=c. 1516|access-date=29 March 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1930.581