La morte d'Adone

Speranza

The Death of Adonis, 1709 Giuseppe Mazzuoli, c.1644-1725 Marble; h 193 cm The subject is taken from from Ovid's Metamorphoses. This sculpture represents the tragic death of the beautiful youth Adonis, beloved of the goddess Venus, during a wild boar hunt. According to Mazzuoli's contemporaries, the sculptor worked for more than 30 years on the creation of this group. Begun in the 17th century, and completed in the early 18th, it is a typical example of the decorative sculpture of the late Baroque period. Mazzuoli replaced the genuine dramatic quality characteristic of the works of Bernini, his teacher, with stylized, almost theatrical pathos.