Venus and Adonis (after North Italian School)
Isaac Seeman (fl.1739 – London 1751)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1746
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
1994 x 1448 mm (78 1/2 x 57 in)
Place of origin
England
Order this imageCollection
Lacock, Wiltshire
NT 996272
Caption
Venus is shown trying to stop her lover, Adonis, from embarking on a hunting trip. She coquettishly raises her leg to tempt him back, as Cupid hovers above. Venus’s fears were fulfilled when Adonis was slain by a boar. Where the earth was stained with his blood, anemones sprouted. It seems probable that the painting is by an artist from Northern Italy, perhaps Piedmont. There are some affinities with the artist Guglielmo Caccia, Il Moncalvo (c.1568 – 1625). The prominence of the parrot, which is painted with a surprising naturalism, and who does not appear in the story, is unclear.
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, Venus and Adonis, Isaac Seeman (d.1751), after Italian (North Italian) School, circa 1600. Adonis at the left walks away from Venus who is seated in a landscape and tries to restrain him; a dog and parrot, left; Cupid above Venus. Commissioned by John Ivory Talbot at a cost of £4.0.0 plus £1.5.0 for 'Lineing & stretching frame'.
Provenance
Bill and receipt (August 28th 1746) from Isaac Seeman, at a cost of £4.0.0 plus £1.5.0 for 'Lineing & stretching frame' (Swindon and Wiltshire History Centre 2664/Box 50/OB18; information given by Elizabeth Gibb); given by Matilda Theresa Talbot (formerly Gilchrist-Clark) (1871 - 1958), who gave the Abbey, the village of Lacock and the rest of the estate to the National Trust in 1944, along with 96 of the family portraits and other pictures, in 1948
Credit line
Lacock Abbey, The Talbot Collection (National Trust)
Makers and roles
Isaac Seeman (fl.1739 – London 1751), artist Italian (North Italian) School, artist
References
Webley 2022: John Webley, The Seeman family of artists from Danzig, 2022