Venus and Adonis

At the beginning of the 17th century, in a nythological scene, Johann Liss celebrated the beauty of the human body with baroque sensuousness. The painter shows us "Venus and Adonis" (C. 1625) in a cheerful, bucolic situation, which alludes in a sensual allegory to the awak- ening of love. In the foreground, he composed a wedge-formed cascade of bodies painted in warm tones.

In a brisk motion, Adonis approaches the beauty, who lies relaxing on a hill, outstretched and barely clothed. Amor slumbers beside her, and a flock of small putti bustles around him: They tamper with his quiver and with the red cloth on which he lies, romping and whispering with one another. One of these cupids brings new arrows and roses. In the dwindling background of the painting, three Graces dance in the shallow water of a pond to music made by a Triton, who sits at the waterside.

Liss also painted this delightful meeting on a copper plate, using fine glaze. In this way, he followed Elsheimer's example and that of Cornelis van Poelenburch (1594-1667), whose "Flight of the Cloelia" (1502) is in the Kunsthalle, or of Hendrick Goltzius (1558-1617), whose "Christ on the Cross" (1600/01) also belongs to the collection.

The muted tones of the "Venus and Adonis" painting, however, show Johann Liss' abilities and preferences with regard to the use of colour, learned first from the masterworks of Jacob Jordaens in Antwerp, and later from those of Titian and Veronese in his chosen home of Venice.