Venus lamenting the death of Adonis

This drawing is related to one of West's most important early commissions and his first submission to the Royal Academy in 1769, Venus lamenting the death of Adonis painted in 1768 and now at the Museum of Art, Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh. West made this drawing for his engraver, Matthew Liart (1736-1782), who published it in 1771. At this point in his career West did not have a large team of studio assistants and would translate his paintings himself into drawings for Liart to engrave. The engraving was published along with another print of West's Death of Procris (Art Institute of Chicago). While the engravings were conceived as a pair, the paintings were not, as the monumental Venus lamenting the death of Adonis is much larger and dates from two years earlier than Procris. The sheet on which the present drawing is made is larger than the engraving which is bordered with a trompe l'oeil frame, the subject itself is almost exactly the same size in the drawing and the print.

We are grateful to Allen Staley for confirming the attribution to West upon firsthand inspection, and for providing us with additional catalogue information.