The lover of Venus is gored in the groin by a wild boar, and dies in pools of blood to be transformed into red anemone flowers.
Holsteyn
Not an illusion as such, it has been used to great effect by a wide range of painters from Mantegna to Munch.
Venus had been terrified of Adonis going hunting, and cautioned him about going near savage beasts. But he wasn’t to be put off. Superb paintings by Veronese, Titian, Rubens, and others.
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