In Roman mythology, Venus was pricked by son Cupid's arrow and fell in love with Adonis, whom she warned not to hunt wild boar.

---

According to Roman mythology, and the tale in Ovid's Metamorphoses, Venus (Aphrodite to Greeks), the goddess of love and beauty, was holding and kissing her son Cupid, (Eros to Greeks) when one of Cupid's arrows (which made anyone they pricked fall in love with the next person he or she saw) scratched Venus. The next person Venus saw was a mortal named Adonis. She warned him not to hunt lions and boars, but he does and is gored by a wild boar and dies. Venus then changes Adonis into a flower that when it blooms, does so only briefly. This painting was done by the master Italian artist Titian between 1555 and 1560. It now hangs in the Getty Museum in California.

---

Size: 4501px × 4136px
Photo credit: © Ivy Close Images / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No

Keywords: adonis, aphrodite, arrows, beauty, cupid, deities, eros, god, goddess, goddesses, gods, greek, italian, legend, love, master, metamorphoses, myth, mythology, ovid, painter, painting, religion, renaissance, roman, titian, venus