The Death of Adonis 

Curator: Here we see "The Death of Adonis", a painting believed to be by Maarten de Vos, currently housed in the Musee des Beaux-Arts de Blois. Editor: It has this dramatic, theatrical feel to it. The rich color of the red dress against Adonis’s pale skin—it’s quite striking and melancholic. Curator: It certainly speaks to the drama of loss. Adonis, a figure of incredible beauty in mythology, died after being gored by a wild boar during a hunt. Venus, here depicted in her sorrow, essentially transforms his blood into the anemone flower. Editor: Knowing it’s an oil painting shifts how I see the red dress. It isn’t just an aesthetic choice but laboriously layered paint, isn’t it? I wonder about the underpainting and the pigments they had available. The quality and availability of those materials absolutely shape the artwork and the story itself. Curator: Precisely. Consider the symbolism interwoven here: Venus’s swans drawing her chariot, a cherubic Cupid, Adonis's hunting dogs – even in death, he’s surrounded by signifiers of love, beauty, and passion, and their swift passing. It mirrors our fascination with these idealized figures across generations. Editor: I am thinking about those hunting dogs though, as markers of elite labor. Dogs are commodities whose use in hunting would signal aristocratic status. Curator: It’s compelling to consider how that feeds into the legend itself: the beautiful mortal loved by a goddess, yet vulnerable in the "real" world – his very death brought about through a commonplace hunting accident, or rather, from a hunt gone tragically wrong. The narrative touches on themes of mortality, loss, and transformation that still resonate powerfully today. Editor: It makes me consider how de Vos, in applying paint in specific ways, has contributed to Adonis’ immortality through art. Material processes and artistic creation intertwine with stories we choose to remember, don’t they? Curator: Yes, reflecting on it has illuminated aspects of eternal beauty but also on the reality of making.