The Prado has expanded its Rococo collection with two Boucher paintings about the myth of Adonis

The Museo Nacional del Prado has acquired two works by François Boucher, one of the leading French painters of the 18th century, devoted to the myth of Adonis. One of the paintings depicts the birth of Adonis and the transformation of his mother, Myrrha, into a tree, while the second shows his death in Venus's arms after an attack by a wild boar.

The works will be placed next to the only Boucher painting already at the Prado, ‘Pan and Syrinx’, once the restoration of the 18th-century rooms is completed. The director of the 18th-century painting collection, Andrés Úbeda, noted that these paintings “make it possible to complete the artist's life trajectory” and show the influence of the Venetian school, and that their state of preservation is “magnificent” despite their age.

The acquisition has been possible thanks to the legacy of the late museum curator Juan José Luna, who left his inheritance to the Prado.