John William Waterhouse R.A., R.I.

Artist's sale, Christie's, London, July 23, 1926, lot 59

Sampson (purchased from the above)

Sale, Sotheby's, Belgravia, November 16, 1976, lot 41

Dr. K. Losch

Sale, Sotheby's, London, March 15, 1983, lot 75, illustrated

Anthony Hobson, J W Waterhouse, London, Phaidon, 1989, p. 70, pl. 49

Anthony Hobson, The Art and Life of J W Waterhouse, RA, Rizzoli, New York, 1980, no. 127, p. 187

This is a sketch for the final work, of the same title, exhibited at the Royal Academy, 1900, no. 155.   Waterhouse based the sleeping figure of Adonis on a Hellenistic statue of Adriadne in the Vatican (plaster models were also in the British Museum) as well as another Hellentistic statue of Endymion in the British Museum.  In this sketch, Adonis' pose is more closely related to the sculptures than in the final version, where his arm has relaxed and his body reclines in a convincingly languid repose.

The idea of Adonis being reawakened by Venus as she tended to her dead lover enjoyed great enthusiasm amongst Victorian writers and artists.  Sir James George Frazer's The Golden Bough (1890) was a popular source for reawakening myths, especially the sections that specifically discuss Adonis (see Chapters 29-32) and the spiritual rites of Spring practiced by cultures that celebrated his annual rebirth.