Bronz statue: Adonis (naked) strides with a catched hind on his shoulders, by his legs a dog. He bends down to Venus. Naked Venus sits on a tree stump, she raises her right hand to Adonis, in her left she holds a wreath. In Wallenstein's time an elaborate Neptun fountain stood in front of Sala Terrena, which was complemented by four bronze sculptural groups on marble bases which stood between the fountain and Sala Terrena. Laocoon and the Wrestlers were probably standing side by side, the former symbolizing punished impiety and the latter defeated revolt. To the left of the group with Laocoon, in which resistance was condemned, the group with Venus and Adonis could have stood, in which the advantages of forethoughtful submission were celebrated. The group of Venus and Adonis would form a couple with the group of Bacchus and the little Satyr celebrating the blessings of the epoch of peace. The playful fight of Bachus and Satyr would form a contrasting pair with the deadly fight of Wrestlers at the opposite end of the row., Fučíková, Čepička 2007#, 443-444 (Eliška Fučíková), and Over a hundred-year period around 1600, Venus and Adonis was a very fashionable theme in painting and we often find it in the Prague Court art of Rudolf II. Two moments were most often illustrated from the myth, Venus trying to stop Adonis departing for the fateful boar hunt and Venus lamenting his death. The representation of Adonis' departure was noticeably stereotyped; we see again and again a sitting Venus trying to embrace Adonis who walks away, in this way Adrian de Vries represented the couple in 1621 (Bückenburg, today Berlin). The Prague statue seemingly conforms to this type, because Venus is also represented on the ground and she raises her hands towards the walking Adonis. But Adonis is not departing, he is returning from a successful hunt with game over his shoulder. Adonis' triumphal return was highlighted by the wreath in Venus' raised hand, which occupies a central position in the group. In Wallenstein's time the standard allegorical reading of the Adonis myth was centred on the hero's refusal of divine counsel, his departure from Venus and its tragic consequence (Mander 1602, 88v). This makes Adonis a perfect counterpart to Laocoon, who also did not obey and had to pay for it. But Prague's Adonis is safely returning from a hunt with a stag on his shoulders and Venus greets him with a wreath, because he did exactly what he had advised him. In depictions of Adonis in 16th and 17th century we do not find other examples of Venus with a wreath or the motif of hero's return from hunt with a small animal on his shoulders. It seems as if Adriaen de Vries reversed the traditional iconographical type, but retained its political message. The tamed Adonis obeys his divine master and is justly rewarded, or, when we translate it into contemporary political terminology, the obstinate rebel is turned into a dutiful subject. It is possible to imagine the statues of Laocoon and the Wrestlers standing side by side in the Wallenstein garden, the former symbolizing punished impiety and the latter defeated revolt. Next to the group with Laocoon, in which resistance was condemned, the group with Venus and Adonis could have stood, in which the advantages of forethoughtful submission were celebrated, in Czech lands very topical theme after the defeat of Czech estates in 1620.
Bronz statue: two naked wreastlers, between them a little shrub with a wreath leaning against its trunk. In Wallenstein's time an elaborate Neptun fountain stood in front of Sala Terrena, which was complemented by four bronze sculptural groups on marble bases which stood between the fountain and Sala Terrena. Laocoon and the Wrestlers were probably standing side by side, the former symbolizing punished impiety and the latter defeated revolt. To the left of the group with Laocoon, in which resistance was condemned, the group with Venus and Adonis could have stood, in which the advantages of forethoughtful submission were celebrated. The group of Venus and Adonis would form a couple with the group of Bacchus and the little Satyr celebrating the blessings of the epoch of peace. The playful fight of Bachus and Satyr would form a contrasting pair with the deadly fight of Wrestlers at the opposite end of the row. All statues were made between 1623 and 1627 in the Prague studio of Adrien de Vries, former Court Sculptor to Emperor Rudolf II., Fučíková, Čepička 2007#, 443-444 (Eliška Fučíková), and Adrian de Vries characterized his statue as Groppa die mideinander ringen (group of those who wrestle with each other). The left wrestler is represented in a deep forward bend; evidently he is trying to pull the right wrestler down to the ground with both his hands. With his left he has grasped his opponent's shoulder and with the other hand his thigh. He is the aggressor; he started the fight, while the right wrestler only resolutely reacts to his action and successfully defends himself. He is represented standing firmly upright with legs apart, but he is not attacking, he holds the hands of the aggressor with both his hands so that he can force them away from his body. The right wrestler is evidently the winner, because in the next moment the aggressor will be lying on the ground. The allegorical content of the "wrestlers" is made clear by a laurel wreath which is represented on the ground, a prize waiting for the victor, who fought with honour. The Wrestlers might be a distant echo of an ancient Roman statue (today in the Uffizi) but most probably they were also an allusion to the defeat of the Bohemian rebels in 1620.
Italský učenec, umělec a architekt Jacopo Strada (1507-1588) byl od roku 1556 v císařských službách. Vynikl také jako numismatik (Strada 1553 a Strada 1559) a jeho syn Ottavio v této tradici pokračoval (Strada 1615), ve všech těchto dílech je řada mincí antických císařů zakončena panujícím habsburským císařem., Fučíková 1997#, II/264, and Jacopo Strada nashromáždil velkou sbírku antických mincí a napdal o nich několik učených pojednání. Tato publikace (De Vitis Imperatorum et Caesarum Romanorum, tam occidentalium quam orientalium Francofurti ad Moenum: Joannes Bringerus, 1615) doplněna o krátké životopisy římských císařů a jejich manželek, potomků, jsou doprovázeny reprodukcemi averzů a reverzů příslušných mincí. Kniha obsahuje 533 takovýchto vyobrazení (též Rudolf II., s. 511-512, č. 529)