two dogs from a florentine wall

(Image: public domain)
Attentive, a bit cowed, these two hounds crouch at their master's feet. They stick together, not knowing quite what to do in all the hubbub; for their master Adonis has been torn by a wild boar, and is dying in the arms of his handmaidens. This is a detail from a fresco, "The Death of Adonis," by late Baroque painter Luca Giordano (1634-1705). The entire fresco is one of many Giordano created in the "long gallery" of Florence's Palazzo Medici-Riccardi during the years 1684-86.

The story of Adonis as I was taught it was simple on the surface: he was a handsome hunter whom Aphrodite loved so much that her husband Ares sent the wild boar to kill him. (Or Persephone, who also loved him, sent the killer boar out of spite.) When I really sat down to look it up, I discovered that Adonis was brought back to life by Zeus, thereby establishing him as a figure of renewal and resurrection. Not a bad theme to have in the house of a Florentine merchant prince.

You can read more about Adonis here, and see the whole fresco too - look for the boar racing away in the background with other hounds in hot pursuit.