The Birth of Adonis

The Birth of Adonis is a much less common subject than the young God's death. In his early years, Nicolas Poussin (1594-1665) illustrated the subject for the poet Giovanni Battista Marino (Royal Collection, Windsor Castle, inv. RCIN 911933). In this drawing, which follows Ovid's description (Metamorphoses, X, 476ff), the focus is on the Naiads receiving the child, while another nymph holds a vessel to catch the tears of Myrrha, Adonis's mother, already transformed into a tree at the left.