Con motivo de la exposición "Pasiones mitológicas: Tiziano, Veronese, Allori, Rubens, Ribera, Poussin, Van Dyck, Velázquez", que se celebra en el Museo Nacional del Prado del 2 de marzo al 4 de julio de 2021, Alejandro Vergara, Jefe de Conservación de Pintura Flamenca y Escuelas del Norte del Museo Nacional del Prado, comenta la obra "Venus y Adonis" (hacia 1580) de Paolo Veronese haciendo hincapié en el momento escogido por el pintor para representar el mito: el instante en el que la diosa todopoderosa se hace consciente de que va a perder lo que más quiere.
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The suffering in "Venus and Adonis", by Paolo Veronese
The suffering in "Venus and Adonis", by Paolo Veronese On the occasion of the exhibition "Mythological Passions", Alejandro Vergara, Chief Curator of Flemish and Northern Schools Painting at the Museo del Prado, comments on "Venus and Adonis" (Ca. 1580), by Paolo Veronese (Paolo Caliari). Vergara emphasizes on the moment chosen by the painter to represent the myth: the instant in which the all-powerful goddess becomes aware that she is going to lose what she most loves.
This is a painting depicting the myth of Venus and Adonis, painted by Veronese.
It is painted under the influence of Titian, who has popularized this subject in one of the paintings he created for Philip II.
Veronese painted a few decades later, also in Venice.
It is a precious painting; it is easy to see how beautiful it is, a vast richness of green tones.
Notice the true richness of a forest when you see it adorned with trees of various kinds, some of them beautifully blue.
It's an orange color, which is very rare in painting, seen occasionally but not often.
In this exhibition, Poussin also uses it, but it is a strange color, difficult to produce and to use.
A beautiful outfit she is wearing.
Apparently a visually striking, beautiful, and highly decorative painting.
Veronese is sometimes accused of being a decorative painter, and yet
If we delve into the content, it's a very moving painting, in my opinion, a profound one.
It is a painting that addresses a theme, which is the theme of painful love.
Lovelessness, impossible love, the pain caused by love.
In this case, the poets tell us, Ovid among others.
It is the easiest to use for Renaissance painters.
for editions of a book that is manageable in size and additionally illustrated with engravings.
The myth tells us that Venus has been touched, wounded, scratched by Cupid's arrow.
And when pierced by that arrow, Venus will fall in love.
And she falls in love with a young man walking through the area, Adonis, a young hunter.
Let us consider what they truly are—the young hunter is nothing more than that.
She is a supreme goddess, goddess of love, fertility, and beauty.
She can practically do anything, but she is the one who has fallen madly in love with him.
What we see here is a scene following a night of love,
Let's call it that, although this is not night.
He has a hunting horn that identifies him as a hunter.
A hunting dog, another hunting dog, Cupid with the quiver full of arrows
and the goddess Venus, who is looking at him.
A viewer who is familiar with the story, and this helps us as spectators of this painting,
We already know what's going to happen next today.
He is going off to hunt and will die during the hunt, and the viewer knows this.
What Veronese has to do is transform that narrative into a single moment,
in an image, in a single image.
What are we seeing here?
We are seeing a dog that is resting, but another that is restless.
It's easy to imagine that this dog is restless because it has already smelled the prey in the forest.
And he is restless not only because of his attitude, but because Cupid is holding him.
And with the posture of his body, he teaches us that holding onto the dog is difficult.
The dog wants to go to the forest, wants to hunt.
And we know that when the dog goes hunting with its master, the master is going to die.
What I find most beautiful about this painting is that Veronese chose to capture the very moment
in which she, the face of Veronese, becomes aware of this.
Perhaps it is not even full consciousness, merely intuition.
that a second later it will become aware of what is going to happen.
That face tells us that the departure of Adonis has been noticed.
and the fact that Adonis is going to die.
And once again, let us assume the role of a goddess who can do anything
And yet, what he cannot prevent is the death of what he loves most.
Viewed from that perspective, this face or this painting, which we previously saw as decorative,
It's a very heartfelt, very intense painting.
Her face is a beauty, that's my opinion.
But it is also intensity of feeling and pain, and seen in this way, it is a painful painting.
It also seems to me the detail of how the sun is hitting part of that head
and is illuminating the goddess's blonde hair.
When we see it, we are aware that the painter has done it.
and we approach him as creator.
And when we do it again in the scene, it becomes something more alive, more intimate.
She is inspired by an ancient sculpture.
The goddess's and Cupid's hair are inspired by many ancient descriptions.
Like everything else in this exhibition, this is a mythological tale transformed into a painting.
What matters most to us is the story, but also the interpretation given by the painters.
And in this case, that reinterpretation focuses heavily on the theme of pain.
And once again, thinking about something I've already mentioned,
It is a pain felt by someone who theoretically shouldn't have to feel it.
Because she is a all-powerful goddess yet feels it as we humans do
when we lose something we desired very much and cannot keep.
The feeling of novelty that mythology does is to turn things into stories.
the feeling humans have that life slips away from their control
and turning them into stories in some way doesn't mean the problems are solved
But yes, they are shared.
A painting, therefore, that is very beautiful
It is a painting that focuses on the theme of the pain caused by love.
