Venus and Adonis

This painting is a variant of Clément-Louis-Marie-Anne Belle's overdoor of Venus and Adonis, commissioned in 1768 together with its pendant of Vertumnus and Pomona for the dining room of the Marquise de Pompadour at the Petit Trianon at Versailles (Musée du Louvre, inv. nos. 2492 and 2493). Both overdoors are signed and dated 1772, the year of their installation. The present work is comparable in scale but differs in some details – here, Adonis wears a red cape rather than green, and a second dove has been added at upper left. It is likely that this painting corresponds to the one sold in the artist’s estate sale in 1809, although the dimensions vary from those listed in the catalogue, measuring 36 by 37 pounces (91.4 x 94 cm.). The catalogue does not specify which Belle executed the painting, but the handling is entirely characteristic of Clément rather than his father, Alexis-Simon Belle (1674-1734).