This painting shows the bravura of the art of the Rudolfine Era. It meets all the requirements that Rudolf II expected from the paintings in his personal collection. It is painted on a non-traditional underlay (copper sheet which was used rather rarely at that time), draws attention for its distinctive tonality, and primarily presents an attractive topic that highlights the grace of a female figure. The painter selected a very popular mythological topic, inspired by the tenth book of Ovid’s Metamorphoses (Metamorphoses X, 52-559). Ovid described a story of Venus, the beautiful goddess of love, who was struck by bows fired by her son Cupid, and who became infatuated with the beautiful young hunter Adonis. The goddess knew that the young man would be killed by a boar; therefore, she strived - to no avail - to prevent Adonis from leaving her and going hunting with his dogs. The painter captured the moment when the two look at each other with affection. Yet, Venus’ eyes show explicit worries and fear of the cruel fate that awaits Adonis and that even the goddess cannot avert. While the topic of the painting is known and comprehensible, the attribution of the painting remains veiled in mystery. There is no signature and neither old documents nor lists that state the name of the artist. Although the inventory of paintings which were removed from the Prague Castle collection in 1623 and sold to Daniel de Briers, a merchant of Frankfurt, features a painting on copper, Adonis und Venus, under number 13 but the brief record does not state the artist or provide any further identification information. Thus, this archival material indicates that a painting with this topic was part of the collection of Rudolf II. However, the painting style is not typical of any painters active at the imperial court in Prague. Newer literature suggested that it was probably made by Aegidius Sadeler who was primarily an engraver and draughtsman at Rudolf’s court.