Venus and Adonis (Autumn)

The Galleria Borghese dates Albani's four seasons to 1616 and 1617, and in autumn the love story of Venus breaks. Adonis, the young hunter she adores, sets off with his spear and a lean hunting dog, glancing back at her. She reclines on a blue drapery under the trees with cupids around her, one hand raised as he goes.

Look up to the left. Her other lover, Mars, drives a chariot drawn by white horses through the clouds, sword lifted and arm stretched out. The museum reads the gesture as a jealous order to the wild boars hiding in the woods, which will kill Adonis during the chase. At the lower left, a few cupids haul away a small cart, one of them waving a torch. The boars themselves never appear in the picture.