Comparison between Venus and Adonis and The Calydonian Boar Hunt
This paper will point out the differences and similarities between these two art works in the Getty museum. The comparison focuses on the format of the art works presentation and the use of color, lines and the central themes inherent in the particular art works. The first art work is the Venus and Adonis an Italian painting that was painted between 1555 and 1560 by Tiziano Vecellio or as popularly known, Titian. Titian was one among the most prolific Italian painters of his time.
Venus and Adonis is a painting that has employed a vivid use of color to bring out the features of the images in the painting. The vivid use of color has helped to bring out the masculine and feminine features of the images of the beings in this painting. Titian used the technique of painting loosely with his brush thus the appearance of the blue skyline and the rays of the sun behind the beings. The vivid use of color and the loose painting also works towards representing the sun behind the clouds and still managing to portray the sun’s rays as well as the shady blue sky.
The main theme of the painting is love and death. The god Venus love for the lone hunter young Adonis is portrayed by the way she clings on to him to prevent him from his impending death as he was on his escapade of hunting. The painting is a depiction of Ovid’s Metamorphoses and was a mythological story retold over time (Kolin, 1997). There is the element of eroticism in this painting that was meant to depict the beauty of the god Venus.
This painting is therefore a depiction of a myth as well as a work of aesthetic appeal. It also depicts the interaction between human beings and gods.
The second work of art calydonian Boar Hunt which was oil on panel painting has so much in common with Venus and Adonis. Calydonian Boar Hunt was a painting by Sir Peter Paul Rubens in the period between 1611-1612, almost 70 years after Venus and Adonis was painted (Auwera & Musees royaux des beaux-arts de Belgique 2007). The two paintings thought share so much in common in terms of the style of painting. Just like the Venus and Adonis painting, the Calydonian Boar Hunt also employs the use of vivid color painting to bring out the features of the images in the painting. The animal images have been emphasized in both the paintings by use of lines and some loose painting. The two paintings also present their sky lines in a more or less similar manner. There is an element of eroticism in the Calydonian Boar Hunt which is also present in Venus and Adonis. The element of eroticism though differ in the two paintings in that in Venus and Adonis, eroticism is meant to portray beauty while in the Calydonian Boar Hunt, it is representing the strength of Meleager, the son of king Oeneus of Calydon who had set forth to kill the boar that had been released by goddess Diana after the king had failed to honor her with offerings (Sutton & Wieseman, 1993).
The two paintings have both some Italian cultural aspects. They were both stories retold several times in Ovid’s Metamorphoses. The two paintings are both depiction Italian mythological culture as they both contain the presence of a deity. In both cases, there is the theme of love and death. While in the Venus and Adonis love is portrayed from a deity to a human being, in the calydonian Boar Hunt, love is expressed from human a human being to another. in both mythologies, the goddesses fail in their endeavors.
The difference between the two paintings is portrayed in the different time periods in which each was painted. The Venus and Adonis was painted much earlier than the Calydonian Boar Hunt. The manner in which the theme of death and love is depicted in the two paintings is also different. While in Calydonian Boar Hunt it is the deity which seeks to destroy or to kill the humans, in the Venus and Adonis, the deity seeks to protect the human being. The deities though fail in their efforts in both cases. In both paintings, there is the blow of death inflicted by an animal. In Venus and Adonis, Venus tries to secure the life of Adonis but fails. Adonis is finally killed by the animals he is hunting.
On the other hand, in Calydonian Boar Hunt the goddess Diana compels an animal in this case the boar to attack and kill people in King Oeneus Calydon Kingdom. In both paintings therefore, the deities are portrayed as being inferior to their human counterparts. Hunting is a common activity portrayed in both paintings though in different terms. In one, hunting is a form of leisure while in the other; hunting is a means of survival.
All in all, the paintings were expertly painted by their respective painters and their themes effectively portrayed in the manner in which they were presented. A closer analysis of the two paintings, one sees that the painters gave a finer detail to the use of color and line to bring out the images in a vivid way. It is difficult to determine which of the two is better than the other since both of the painters seem to have used the same technique.
The two paintings use of color, painting technique, use of light and faint line is just but magnificent. The present of their themes is also as livid as it could ever be. They both really achieved the purpose of their painting.
References
Auwera, V. J. & Musees royaux des beaux-arts de Belgique. (2007). Rubens: A Genius at Work:
the Works of Peter Paul Rubens in the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium Reconsidered. Netherlands: Lannoo Uitgeverij.
Kolin, C. P. (1997). Venus and Adonis: Critical Essays. USA: Philip C. Kolin.
Sutton, C.P. & Wieseman. E. M. (1993). The Age of Rubens. Boston: Museum of Fine Arts.
