Landscape with Venus and Adonis

About the Artwork

Venus, the goddess of love, is unsuccessful in dissuading her mortal lover Adonis from hunting the boar that would eventually kill him. The artist nestles this story in the foreground of an expansive view with Germanic architecture, rather than a classical setting. Woodlands were relatively new subjects in European painting and this work points toward the full-blown forested landscapes of the 1600s.

Inscriptions

Signed lower left: "GLVC [monogram]"

Provenance

Possibly Gillis van Coninxloo the Elder (inventory of January 19, 1607); Possibly Jacques Kina (N. de Roever, "De Coninxloo's," Oud Holland, III, 1885,42); Possibly Anna de Schot (inventory of April 21, 1663; see J. Denuce, De Antwerpsche 'Konst-kamers' Inventarissen van Kunstverzamelingen te Antwerpen in de 16 en 17 Eeuwen, II, Amsterdam, 1932,238); Henry Doetsch, London, 1895; (Christie's, London, June 22-25,1895, no. 282, illus.); M. Greene, London, 1932; Harry Quilter, London, 1961; [F. Kleinberger, New York], sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art, 1962.

Exhibition history

Year in Review (1963). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 27, 1963-January 5, 1964). Dutch Art and Life in the Seventeenth Century. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (July 10-September 2, 1973). Flemish Landscapes, 1520-1700. Kulturstiftung Ruhr Essen, Germany (August 23-November 30, 2003); Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien, Wien, Austria (organizer) (December 21, 2003-April 12, 2004).

Quick Overview

Artist: Gillis van Coninxloo (Netherlandish, 1544–1607)
Date: 1580s
Medium: oil on copper
Dimensions: Framed: 48.3 x 64.5 x 7 cm (19 x 25 3/8 x 2 3/4 in.); Unframed: 37.8 x 53.6 cm (14 7/8 x 21 1/8 in.)
Type: Painting
Classification: Painting
Department: European Painting and Sculpture
Credit line: Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund
Accession no.: 1962.293

Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.