HERBERT ARNOULD OLIVIER (BRITISH 1861-1952), VENUS AND ADONIS

HERBERT ARNOULD OLIVIER (BRITISH 1861-1952)VENUS AND ADONIS'Old myths have often found their origin,In natural actions and their consequences;Thus gentle Love has suffered many a slight,Since Adam blamed poor Eve for tempting him,And Samson's strength by woman's wile was lost,But Love with Energy may please in vain;E'en so sweet Venus circling with her armsHer reckless Love, could not detain the youth;For red anemones now guard the field,Where rash Adonis hastened to his death'Oil on canvasSigned (lower left)180 x 125.5cm (70¾ x 49¼ in.)Exhibited:Royal Academy, London 1898 (no. 253 'Venus and Adonis')Grafton Galleries, London, April 1908 (no. 84 'Love versus Energy')The Royal British Colonial Society of Artists, 'Dominions and States Exhibition 1918', no. 195Literature:Grafton Galleries, Indian Princes, Kew Gardens, Italian Landscapes and other Pictures by Herbert Olivier, April 1908, p.8, no.84. Provenance:The artist and by descent through his familyAlternatively titled on a second label 'Love and Energy symbolised by Venus and Adonis'. The painting presents Olivier's interpretation of the last meeting of the goddess Venus and her mortal lover Adonis from Book X of Ovid's Metamorphoses. Cupid accidentally wounded his mother Venus with an arrow and caused her to fall in love with Adonis. Venus implores Adonis not to join the hunt for fear he will meet his death; the hunter is determined, however, and pulls away from her while holding the leads of his hounds. In Ovid's text, Venus takes off from this final meeting in her swan-driven chariot, but turns back upon hearing Adonis's death moans as her beloved was fatally wounded by a boar during the hunt. The model for Adonis was the artist's brother Gerard Olivier (1869-1939), the father of actor Laurence Olivier. The setting for this mythological scene is the garden of La Mortola on the Italian riviera, which Olivier painted on many occasions and is depicted in several other works in this collection.