Death of Adonis 1729 - 1742

Curator: This is "Death of Adonis" after a drawing by Raphael and engraved by A. Claude Philippe de Thubières comte de Caylus, residing here at the Harvard Art Museums. Editor: The starkness of the etching, the almost skeletal figures—it conveys such a potent sense of loss. The lines feel so raw. Curator: Indeed, the image draws on the Adonis myth, where his untimely death is a poignant symbol of beauty's fragility. Notice how the figures, though Classical in form, are rendered with a kind of brokenness, reflecting the grief of Adonis's mourners. Editor: The composition too—the way Adonis's body is suspended between the figures, creating a visual tension. There's an immediacy here, despite the historical subject matter. Curator: It's fascinating how the artist manages to distill such a complex narrative into a single, powerful image. The cultural weight of myth and the visual impact of form. Editor: Precisely, the interplay between classical trope and brutal presentation really arrests the eye.