_School of Giorgione_ (Venetian: 16th century). _See 269._
A picture of the golden age, entirely in the Giorgionesque spirit, and
often attributed to Giorgione himself[214]--a vision of a land bathed
in perpetual light and sparkling with golden sunshine. The legendary
subject which forms the theme of this characteristic pastoral is the
story of Myrrha, which may be read in Dryden's translations from Ovid's
_Metamorphoses_. The principal group is Venus and her favourite Adonis
(see under 34). He was the son of Myrrha, whose legend is the subject
of several small groups. On the right is a woman fleeing from a man
who pursues her, sword in hand; these represent Myrrha and her father
Cinyras. Farther on the woman is on her knees; here Myrrha is praying
to the gods to transform her--
... Since my life the living will profane
And since my death the happy dead will stain,
Some other form to wretched Myrrha give,
Nor let her wholly die, nor wholly live.
A third group shows the answer to her prayer: she is transferred into
the myrrh tree, whose "precious drops her name retain," while the
wood-nymphs receive her new-born babe, Adonis. In the background on the
left is represented the death of Adonis; Venus is lamenting over his
body and changing his blood into the anemone. The group in the clouds
may represent Cupid accidentally wounding his mother.