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See my post of July 25, 2011
Was Shakespeare inspired by Titian's 'Venus and Adonis'?
This popularity trend is in sharp contrast to the well-known decline of mythological pictures in the visual arts from the 19th century onwards, as exemplified with the data of my Research Paper 5 extracted from the Topical Cataloguesabout the iconography of Venus from the Middle Ages to Modern Times by identified artists from Italy, France and the Low Countries (3).
Episode 1 (Ovid's verses 525-528): Venus, wounded inadvertently by Cupid's arrow, falls madly in love with Adonis.
*in Shakespeare (1-6): Cupid is totally absent, but Venus is 'sick-thoughted' from her longing for Adonis.
*in La Fontaine (1-56): Adonis is hurt by Cupid; cupids are present and both protagonists are in love.
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Episode 2 (Ovid's verses 529-552): Venus, dressed like Diana, is searching for Adonis on the chase, meets him and warns him not to chase lions or boars.
*in Shakespeare (7-60): Adonis, chasing, rides a horse; Venus pulls him down to the ground, she leans alongside and starts kissing him.
*in La Fontaine (57-83): Venus, arriving in her chariot, meets Adonis who rests at a riverbank.
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Episode 3 (Ovid's verses 553-559): Venus resting after the chase and lying her head on the lap of Adonis.
*in Shakespeare (61-258):'fastened in her arms Adonis lies'...he tries to escape her embrace and leaves her to control his horse.
*in La Fontaine (84-163): Venus and Adonis make love; Adonis falls asleep next to Venus.
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Episode 4 (Ovid's verses 560-704):Venus tells Adonis about Atalante and Hippomenes.
*in Shakespeare (259-324): no story, but a long intermezzo about Adonis' horse-rage.
*in La Fontaine: no story.
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Episode 5 (Ovid's verses 705-709):Venus warns again Adonis not to chase lions and leaves in her chariot drawn by swans.
*in Shakespeare (325-852):Venus tries again to seduce Adonis, simulates a fainting and gets 'a sweet embrace'... he tells her his intention to hunt the boar with his friends...'she trembles at his tale, and on his neck her yoking arms she throws.' Venus warns him about all the dangers of hunting the boar, more dangerous than a lion, and tells her distress.
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Episode 6 (Ovid's verses 710-716): Adonis deadly wounded by a boar.
*in Shakespeare: no description of the chase, but the fight is briefly described in verses 1111-1116.
*in La Fontaine (239-546): the chase and the fight with the boar is described in detail.
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Episode 7 (Ovid's verses 716-723):Venus returning in her chariot and finding the dying Adonis.
*in Shakespeare (853-1074): Venus running around the whole night, hoping Adonis will be alive, but finally finds him dead.
*in La Fontaine (547-550): Venus returns and finds Adonis dead.
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Episode 8 (Ovid's verses 724-727): Venus lamenting Adonis' death and pledging an annual feast (Adonia) (9).
*in Shakespeare (1075-1164): Venus' prophesy ( 'Il n'y a pas d'amour heureux' )
*in La Fontaine (551-612): Venus laments Adonis' death.
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Episode 9 (Ovid's verses 728-738): Venus metamorphosing Adonis in an anemone.
*in Shakespeare (1165-1194):'A purple flower sprung up...'; Venus leaves for Paphos in her chariot drawn by doves.
*in La Fontaine: no metamorphoses described.
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NOTES
(1) The data are derived from the information provided by www.worldcat.org.
(2) The original manuscript is owned by Musée du Petit Palais, Paris and was reproduced in a fac-simile edition of 36 private copies and 94 public copies in 1931 by the Société des Bibliophiles françois, Paris.
(3) The fourth Topical Catalogue entitled 'The German-Swiss and Central- European Venus' will be published in 2012. The fifth catalogue will be entitled 'The Eastern, Southern, Western and Northern European Venus' and is scheduled for 2013.
(4) Research Paper 5 entitled ' Time Distribution, Popularity, Diversity and Productivity of the Iconography of Venus in the Low Countries, France and Italy' gives a detailed account of this quantitative data analysis. The quantitative approach confirms the high popularity of 'Venus and Adonis' in the Low Countries, already observed by E. J. Sluijter in his dissertation: "De 'heydensche fabulen' in de Noordnederlandse schilderkunst circa 1590-1670" Leiden, 1986. For a similar histogram for topic 'Judgement of Paris', see my post of January 29, 2012 A lost painting by Adriaen VAN DER WERFF... The difference between both histograms is striking.
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(8) The figure captions are kept to a minimum. Interested readers are invited to contact me for further details by quoting the reference number R of each picture.
(9) An extensive account of the oldest sources of the story of Adonis and his cult can be found in W. Atallah: 'Adonis dans la littérature et l'art grecs' Etudes et Commentaires LXII. Librairie C. Klincksieck, Paris, 1966, 352 pp.
William Shakespeare(1564-1616) - no doubt the best known author of theatre and poetry in English literature - published in 1593 the highly successful narrative poem 'Venus and Adonis' of 1194 verses.
It is reasonable to assume that Shakespeare was inspired by Titian's famous paintings 'Venus and Adonis' - or at least by one of the many similar works of contemporary artists - when describing Venus' attempts to withhold Adonis from the chase.
It is reasonable to assume that Shakespeare was inspired by Titian's famous paintings 'Venus and Adonis' - or at least by one of the many similar works of contemporary artists - when describing Venus' attempts to withhold Adonis from the chase.
See my post of July 25, 2011Was Shakespeare inspired by Titian's 'Venus and Adonis'?
The French poet Jean de La Fontaine (1621-1695) is worldwide famous for his 'Fables'. He published in 1658 a poem entitled 'Adonis' of 612 verses, which was also quite popular when comparing the number of editions (1).
 |
| from the original manuscript (2) |
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| Cumulative number of editions of 'Venus and Adonis' and 'Adonis' (1) |
This popularity trend is in sharp contrast to the well-known decline of mythological pictures in the visual arts from the 19th century onwards, as exemplified with the data of my Research Paper 5 extracted from the Topical Cataloguesabout the iconography of Venus from the Middle Ages to Modern Times by identified artists from Italy, France and the Low Countries (3).
 |
| Histogram of the percentages of the topic 'Venus and Adonis' |
The graph shows the percentage of artworks depicting the topic 6. Venus and Adonis with respect to the total number of 'Venus'-artworks compiled under 18 main topics in each time period of 50 years (4).
While both poems find their inspiration in Book X of the 'Metamorphoses' of Ovid - extremely popular from the Middle Ages onwards - they differ substantially. In both Ovid and La Fontaine, Venus leaves unwillingly Adonis. In Shakespeare on the contrary, Adonis escapes the continuous effort of Venus to seduce him. Shakespeare also introduces in the story: *horses, which play an important role in the poem, and *companions of Adonis in the hunt, but *he leaves out any reference to Cupid.
The aim of this post is to highlight these differences among the poems of Ovid, Shakespeare and La Fontaine with a few selected artworks of all types from different regions and periods and some book-illustrations.
Obviously, a full illustrated account would fill a large book and could never be complete (5). In addition, other poets were equally inspired by Ovid and they may have also instigated visual artworks (6).
Obviously, a full illustrated account would fill a large book and could never be complete (5). In addition, other poets were equally inspired by Ovid and they may have also instigated visual artworks (6).
In my Topical Catalogues the main topic 6. Venus and Adonis got four subtopics: Venus meeting/loving/restraining/lamenting Adonis.
However, for this post 'ut pictura poesis' it is appropriate to distinguish nine narrative episodes in Ovid's story and compare them with Shakespeare's and La Fontaine's poem. The selected artworks for each episode throw light on the differences among the three poems, but were not necessarily directly inspired by one of them, except in the case of the few book-illustrations (7) (8).
Episode 1 (Ovid's verses 525-528): Venus, wounded inadvertently by Cupid's arrow, falls madly in love with Adonis.
*in Shakespeare (1-6): Cupid is totally absent, but Venus is 'sick-thoughted' from her longing for Adonis.
*in La Fontaine (1-56): Adonis is hurt by Cupid; cupids are present and both protagonists are in love.
Episode 2 (Ovid's verses 529-552): Venus, dressed like Diana, is searching for Adonis on the chase, meets him and warns him not to chase lions or boars.
*in Shakespeare (7-60): Adonis, chasing, rides a horse; Venus pulls him down to the ground, she leans alongside and starts kissing him.
*in La Fontaine (57-83): Venus, arriving in her chariot, meets Adonis who rests at a riverbank.
Episode 3 (Ovid's verses 553-559): Venus resting after the chase and lying her head on the lap of Adonis.
*in Shakespeare (61-258):'fastened in her arms Adonis lies'...he tries to escape her embrace and leaves her to control his horse.
*in La Fontaine (84-163): Venus and Adonis make love; Adonis falls asleep next to Venus.
Episode 4 (Ovid's verses 560-704):Venus tells Adonis about Atalante and Hippomenes.
*in Shakespeare (259-324): no story, but a long intermezzo about Adonis' horse-rage.
*in La Fontaine: no story.
Episode 5 (Ovid's verses 705-709):Venus warns again Adonis not to chase lions and leaves in her chariot drawn by swans.
*in Shakespeare (325-852):Venus tries again to seduce Adonis, simulates a fainting and gets 'a sweet embrace'... he tells her his intention to hunt the boar with his friends...'she trembles at his tale, and on his neck her yoking arms she throws.' Venus warns him about all the dangers of hunting the boar, more dangerous than a lion, and tells her distress.
*in La Fontaine (165-236): With much regret, Venus leaves Adonis for Paphos in her chariot; she warns him not to chase bears, boars or lions and also not to be unfaithful with the wood-nymphs; they kiss goodbye; Adonis mourns her departure and decides to go hunting with friends in order to forget his sorrow.
Episode 6 (Ovid's verses 710-716): Adonis deadly wounded by a boar.
*in Shakespeare: no description of the chase, but the fight is briefly described in verses 1111-1116.
*in La Fontaine (239-546): the chase and the fight with the boar is described in detail.
Episode 7 (Ovid's verses 716-723):Venus returning in her chariot and finding the dying Adonis.
*in Shakespeare (853-1074): Venus running around the whole night, hoping Adonis will be alive, but finally finds him dead.
*in La Fontaine (547-550): Venus returns and finds Adonis dead.
Episode 8 (Ovid's verses 724-727): Venus lamenting Adonis' death and pledging an annual feast (Adonia) (9).
*in Shakespeare (1075-1164): Venus' prophesy ( 'Il n'y a pas d'amour heureux' )
*in La Fontaine (551-612): Venus laments Adonis' death.
Episode 9 (Ovid's verses 728-738): Venus metamorphosing Adonis in an anemone.
*in Shakespeare (1165-1194):'A purple flower sprung up...'; Venus leaves for Paphos in her chariot drawn by doves.
*in La Fontaine: no metamorphoses described.
NOTES
(1) The data are derived from the information provided by www.worldcat.org.
(2) The original manuscript is owned by Musée du Petit Palais, Paris and was reproduced in a fac-simile edition of 36 private copies and 94 public copies in 1931 by the Société des Bibliophiles françois, Paris.
(3) The fourth Topical Catalogue entitled 'The German-Swiss and Central- European Venus' will be published in 2012. The fifth catalogue will be entitled 'The Eastern, Southern, Western and Northern European Venus' and is scheduled for 2013.
(4) Research Paper 5 entitled ' Time Distribution, Popularity, Diversity and Productivity of the Iconography of Venus in the Low Countries, France and Italy' gives a detailed account of this quantitative data analysis. The quantitative approach confirms the high popularity of 'Venus and Adonis' in the Low Countries, already observed by E. J. Sluijter in his dissertation: "De 'heydensche fabulen' in de Noordnederlandse schilderkunst circa 1590-1670" Leiden, 1986. For a similar histogram for topic 'Judgement of Paris', see my post of January 29, 2012 A lost painting by Adriaen VAN DER WERFF... The difference between both histograms is striking.
(5) Readers should consult the extremely rich scientific literature on both poems..
For Shakespeare, see e.g. 'Shakespeare's Poems' edited by K. Duncan-Jones and H. R. Woudhuysen. 2007. The Arden Shakespeare.
For La Fontaine, see 'Le Fablier - Revue des Amis de Jean de La Fontaine', Château Thierry (FR), published since 1988.For Shakespeare, see e.g. 'Shakespeare's Poems' edited by K. Duncan-Jones and H. R. Woudhuysen. 2007. The Arden Shakespeare.
(6) The very long poem (40,984 verses) 'L'Adone' by the Italian poet Giambattista Marino (1569-1625), published in Paris and in Venice in 1623, was immensely successful both in France and Italy.
(7) Many older editions feature a title illustration and sometimes a frontispiece, but few have illustrations in the text itself. Those text illustrations become frequent in the special 'collector' editions of the 20th century.
(8) The figure captions are kept to a minimum. Interested readers are invited to contact me for further details by quoting the reference number R of each picture.
(9) An extensive account of the oldest sources of the story of Adonis and his cult can be found in W. Atallah: 'Adonis dans la littérature et l'art grecs' Etudes et Commentaires LXII. Librairie C. Klincksieck, Paris, 1966, 352 pp.
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