Venus und Adonis

Titian invented this composition of Venus trying to hold back her mortal lover Adonis from the hunt around 1554, for Philip II of Spain, and it became one of the most repeated designs of his career. Some 30 versions came out of his workshop and the hands that copied it. This one, painted about 1560, has a detail that sets it apart: Adonis wears a jaunty feathered hat you will not find in the others. For a long time it was dismissed as a late copy, but recent cleaning suggests it really did come out of Titian's own workshop in the 16th century. It later belonged to Tsar Paul I of Russia before making its way back to Italy and, eventually, to the Barberini palace in Rome.