Venus and Adonis

When Rubens travelled to Madrid on a diplomatic mission in 1628, he spent his spare hours copying the Titians in the Spanish royal collection. One of them was Titian's Venus and Adonis, and it stayed with him. Back home, around 1635, he painted his own version of the parting. Venus clings to Adonis, trying to hold him back from the hunt she fears will kill him, while Cupid tugs at his leg. Rubens gives Adonis more of the hero than Titian did, already turned toward his dogs and the day ahead. The Metropolitan Museum in New York now owns both the Titian that started it and the Rubens it inspired, so the two can be seen a few rooms apart.