A Transformation in Understanding

Cornelis Cornelisz van Haarlem’s 1619 work Venus and Adonis can tell many stories. The canvas, on view in the BMA’s Jacobs Wing, depicts the ill-fated lovers Venus and Adonis, a pair whose mythological tale was told in Ovid’s Metamorphoses around 8 C.E. The work also serves as a handsome example of how depictions of the human form have been used throughout history to tell rich and intricate stories. And finally, the work offers a glimpse of the transformations taking place in the 17th century in the Netherlands and across Europe.

Curator of European Painting

and Sculpture Lara YeagerCrasselt notes that most of Ovid’s stories in Metamorphoses focus on the transformations of gods and humans—often into plants and animals. “When the first illustrated editions of Metamorphoses were published in the mid-16th century, they provided incredible sources for the imaginations of artists,” she said. “Artists faced the challenge of translating text into image, of visualizing complex human narratives, and depicting moments that could convey or teach moral lessons.”

In the painting by Cornelis van Haarlem, the Roman goddess Venus embraces the hunter Adonis amid a wooded landscape.

As Ovid’s story goes, an errant arrow from Cupid’s quiver struck Venus in the breast and caused her to fall madly in love with the mortal

Adonis. The painting brings to life the moment in which Venus implores her human lover to be careful of the mighty beasts in the forest. Yeager-Crasselt points out that the dogs positioned at Adonis’ side identify him as a hunter and foretell his demise. Adonis, of course, does not yield his lover’s warning and is later killed by a wild boar sent by Venus’ jilted husband, Mars, who was enraged that he no longer held Venus’ affections.

Mythological subjects and their passionate and violent tales provided European artists with ample source material. But, as Yeager-Crasselt explains, these subjects also “allowed artists like Cornelis van Haarlem to depict large, nude figures within the conventions of decorum.”

Removed from everyday life, biblical and mythological stories gave artists permission to pursue studies of the naked human form. Ovid’s many subjects in Metamorphoses were so popular among artists that they were considered the

“Painter’s Bible,” according to Yeager-Crasselt.

Depictions of biblical and mythological stories also encouraged artists to finesse their knowledge of antique sculpture. “Young artists learned by copying sculptural fragments and gradually progressed to nude models,” Yeager-Crasselt said. “Some artists pursued knowledge of the human form by traveling to Italy to witness antique Roman art firsthand, and others imagined the sculptures, drawings and paintings from afar.”

Yeager-Crasselt is also quick to mention that while many works depicted the naked female form, women were largely barred from these artistic pursuits. “Women feature prominently in these works, yet they were rarely permitted the professional opportunities that were open to men, such as learning in studios by copying after antique sculpture or the nude model,” she notes. The gender imbalance is worth remembering when one considers how broadly Ovid’s texts traveled across Europe and how extensively classical antiquity was studied among artists—nearly all of them men.

It’s a consideration that visitors can carry with them this fall as Making Her Mark: A History of Women Artists in Europe, 1400-1800 opens in the special exhibition galleries. Meanwhile, under YeagerCrasselt’s curation, Venus and Adonis will be situated with works by Hendrick Goltzius, another artist working in the city of Haarlem in the Netherlands in the early 17th century.

“Venus and Adonis is the central work in the new installation, European Art in Focus, which brings together works by several artists in the

BMA’s collection. The gallery will juxtapose paintings and prints with antique sculptural fragments from Türkiye to demonstrate, concretely, the kinds of dialogues that occurred across different media,” said Yeager-Crasselt.

There is a transformative power in recreating these historic juxtapositions for visitors to the BMA. YeagerCrasselt offers that “the stories depicted and the themes presented are not new, but they speak to our lived experiences differently than they could a decade or a century or two centuries ago. We bring our own social, political, ecological, and cultural considerations to these works and can understand them anew.”

Meyerhoff-Becker Lobby Commission 2023