Venus is shown at full length, seated with her back to the viewer. She twists her upper body to embrace Adonis, who is facing the viewer, while Cupid holds up a drapery behind them. At their feet two putti wrestle over a bow. The subject is recounted in Ovid's Metamorphoses and is a popular one in painting; the goddess Venus fell in love with the mortal, Adonis. She is frequently shown embracing him and attempting to restrain him from going to the hunt, where he met his death. It is likely that this picture has been cut down slightly at the right, and that Adonis would have originally have held a spear, enhancing the narrative of him leaving for the hunt.