One of the most exciting aspects of visiting the State Hermitage Museum is seeing the original of so many famous paintings and sculptures. Each room contains priceless treasures to be admired. This is “Death of Adonis.” Giuseppe Mazzuola toiled nearly thirty years before finishing this masterpiece in 1709. The marble sculpture portrays when the lover of the goddess Venus is attacked and killed by a boar. The event is described in Ovid’s poem written in 8 AD about the creation of heaven and earth called “Metamorphoses.”