Venus and Adonis
Abraham Bloemaert
1632
In 1763 Gerhard Morell, the keeper of the Royal Danish Kunstkammer, returned from Amsterdam with more than a hundred new paintings for the royal collections. One of these paintings was Abraham Bloemaerts’ "Venus and Adonis", which he acquired for 150 rigsdaler and which is listed as no. 39 in Morell’s hand-written inventory of the paintings he purchased.
At this point Morell was the driving force behind the modernisation of the old kunstkammer (literally "art chamber"), which had existed since the days of King Frederik III. He wished to create a new and modern gallery at Christiansborg in accordance with the prevalent style and taste of the time. Morell bought a great many paintings, a large portion of which belonged to the Flemish and Dutch schools.
Bloemaert founded the so-called Utrecht School, a group of young artists from Utretcht who went to Rome in the early part of the 17th century and were inspired by artists such as Caravaggio. This painting is regarded as one of Bloemaert’s masterpieces.
SMK – National Gallery of Denmark, Copenhagen · Image: SMK – National Gallery of Denmark, Public domain · Text: SMK – National Gallery of Denmark (adapted), CC0