Picchi DI MARCANTONIO (attributed to) (decorator)
Myrrha giving birth to Adonis, plate
1550
Medium
earthenware (maiolica)
Measurements
3.4 × 23.2 cm diameter
Credit Line
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Bequest of Howard Spensley, 1939
Gallery location
Gallery 14
Level 3, NGV Australia
About this work
The story of the birth of Adonis is contained in Book 10 of Ovid’s Metamorphoses. Myrrha tricked her father, Cinyras, into committing incest with her. Discovering what they had done, Cinyras tried to kill her. She fled, pregnant, and as she was about to give birth was transformed into a myrrh tree. The baby Adonis was subsequently born from the tree.