Thomas Phillips RA, Venus and Adonis, 1808.
Oil on canvas. 1274 mm x 1019 mm x 25 mm. © Photo: Royal Academy of Arts, London. Photographer: John Hammond.
This image is not available to download. To licence this image for commercial purposes, contact our Picture Library at picturelibrary@royalacademy.org.uk
Venus and Adonis, 1808
Thomas Phillips RA (1770 - 1845)
RA Collection: Art
Phillips was apprenticed to a glass painter in Birmingham before moving to London in 1790. He entered the Royal Academy Schools in 1791 along with Sir Martin Archer Shee, PRA. Phillips also worked in Benjamin West’s studio. His early exhibited work included history paintings but he soon realised that if he were to live by his profession that ‘I must attach myself to Portraiture’.
However as portraits were not acceptable as Diploma Works, Phillips submitted Venus and Adonis as his presentation piece. Phillips depicts Adonis with a spear in hand and his dog on a leash, eager to go off hunting, while Venus implores him to stay. The turtle doves and the scattered roses refer both to Venus’s beauty and the love she felt for Adonis.
Object details
1274 mm x 1019 mm x 25 mm
Associated works of art
1 results
Start exploring the RA Collection
- Explore art works, paint-smeared palettes, scribbled letters and more...
- Artists and architects have run the RA for 250 years.
Our Collection is a record of them.
Related articles
-
![RA cast display installation]()
Our Collection
7 months ago
Video: Historic casts are re-installed at the RA Schools
After years in storage, watch as our cast collection is re-installed around the RA Schools.
-
![Richard Cosway RA, Richard and Maria Cosway, and Ottobah Cugoano (detail)]()
Our Collection
1 year ago
Untold Stories
Recent research reveals how the Royal Academy’s founding artists worked amidst Britain’s imperial expansion in the 18th century, the transatlantic slave trade, and a growing abolitionist movement.
-
![Sir Joshua Reynolds PRA,, Self-portrait of Sir Joshua Reynolds, PRA]()
Our Collection
< 2 years ago
Creative inspiration today from the first President of the Royal Academy
The RA’s founding President Joshua Reynolds may have shaken up the art world when he delivered his ‘Discourses’ lectures, but are they still relevant now? We take a closer look at what artists and art-lovers can learn from the series today.
-
![Emma Stibbon RA, Collapsed Whaling Station, Deception Island, Antarctica]()
Our Collection
< 2 years ago
Video: Apocalyptic printmaking and extreme environments with Emma Stibbon RA
Watch Emma Stibbon describes the unforgiving conditions and dramatic landscapes that inspired her display in the Collection Gallery.
