Birth of Adonis (c. 1515–20): Art, History and Details

Birth of Adonis (c. 1515–20) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Benedetto Montagna (Italian, c. 1481–1555/58).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

With tiny hands outstretched, the infant Adonis emerges from a prominent tree. Benedetto Montagna depicts the babe as if miraculously extracted from the bark in the manner of Eve’s creation from Adam’s side. But close attention to the sinuous trunk reveals Adonis to be actually born of a wooden womb. His mother Myrrah, after conceiving incestuously, pleaded that the gods deny her both life and death for her crime: she was thus transformed into a tree. Often moralized for later Christian audiences, tales such as this from Ovid’s popular Metamorphoses warned the viewer against following taboo desires.

Object facts

• Title: Birth of Adonis
• Date: c. 1515–20
• Creator attribution: Benedetto Montagna (Italian, c. 1481–1555/58)
• Culture: Italy
• Type: Print
• Technique: engraving
• Dimensions: Sheet: 16.3 x 10.8 cm (6 7/16 x 4 1/4 in.)
• Collection: PR - Engraving
• Department: Prints
• Accession number: 1954.566

Collection credit

John L. Severance Fund

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.