Venus and Adonis

In the pictureA young hunter in red, with two hunting dogs and a spear, steps off to the right, while a naked goddess, her back to us, throws her arms around him to hold him back. On the left, Cupid sleeps under a tree, his bow hung in its branches. In the sky, light breaks through the clouds. The goddess's face pleads, and the hunter's is cold.

BackgroundThe scene comes from Ovid's Metamorphoses. Venus knows Adonis will die on the hunt and tries to hold him back, but he leaves and is killed by a wild boar. Titian first painted this composition in 1554 for Philip II of Spain (Prado, Madrid), and his workshop repeated it in several versions. This painting is one of them, and the view of Venus from behind was taken from an ancient relief.

Puzzle tipDivide it into flesh (Venus), red (Adonis's clothing), brown (the dogs and the ground), and blue and white (the sky). Complete the two figures and the dogs first, then fill the sky using the bright parts of the clouds and the ground using the colors of grass and earth. The sleeping Cupid and the bow hanging in the tree are the reference points on the left.