Venus & Adonis, Ishtar & Tammuz; Slide 76

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Venus & Adonis, Ishtar & Tammuz

The Awakening of Adonis;

In this painting Venus is weeping over her dead beloved Adonis, the handsomest man in the world.  In a garden. The garden and garden king represent fertility, just as Easter lilies and tulips — not to mention eggs and bunnies —  symbolize on Ishtar Sunday. 

She’s perhaps about to call him back, since the resurrections in all these stories happened in a garden. 

The Awakening of Adonis
by John William Waterhouse

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