Venus and Adonis by Titian and Diana and Cupid by Pompeo Girolamo Batoni - Essay Example

First Visual Arts and Film Studies Compare Two Paintings. The two paintings which I compared are Venus and Adonis by Titian and Diana and Cupid by Pompeo Girolamo Batoni. Though more than two hundred years separates these two oil paintings, they are remarkably similar in their subject matter, style and composition. Both of these paintings depict mythical stories. Venus and Adonis is a Renaissance painting that shows the same mythical story as Ovids Metamorphasis and a poem by William Shakespeare with the same name as the painting.

Diana and Cupid is a Neoclassical piece which shows the Roman goddess of the hunt holding a bow away from Cupid, the god of love. The subject matter of each painting is drawn from each painters Roman heritage. Cupid appears in both of these paintings, but he is less apparent in Titians work. Here, Cupid is a chubby cherubic baby. Batonis Cupid is different older and more capable of handling the bow and arrows which he desires. The god of love is not the only similarity between the paintings subjects.

There are also hunting dogs in both paintings. The dogs in Diana and Cupid are sleeping and daydreaming. They are not ready to go out on the hunt, probably because Diana is not letting Cupid have the bow. The dogs in Venus and Adonis are more active and alert. One has his nose down to the ground and the other is sniffing the air. They are ready to assist Adonis in his hunting expedition. Both are oil paintings but the older Venus and Adonis is faded and less vibrant. The rainbow in the background is dull, it almost fades into the gray sky at the top of the canvas.

Diana and Cupid, on the other hand, is bright and colorful. Ripples of water, folds of skin and a building off in the distance are all well defined and easy to see. This contrast is probably caused by the age and the quality of paint which was available when each masterpiece were completed. Most of the similarities between these two paintings exist because of the eras in which they were painted. The Neoclassical Era of Diana and Cupid took its inspiration from Renaissance artists like Titian.

The major differences between these two paintings comes from the length of time which separates these two eras. Venus and Adonis looks darker and faded, it should because it is two hundred years older. However, the Roman myths which inspire both pieces have inspired artists into the current era. Vecellio, Tiziano “Titian”. Venus and Adonis. 1554. Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid. Museo National del Prado. Web. 15 November 2011 Batoni, Pompeo Girolamo. Diana and Cupid. 1761. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Metropolitan Museum of Art. Web. 15 November 2001