A woman in a violet skirt with gold medallions, bare to the waist and wearing a pearl necklace, holds a small red fan as a man in an orange tunic sleeps with his head and shoulders sprawled in her lap. A small naked boy with a green sash holds back a spotted hound at the left, and a second dog lies curled at the front. Tall trees open to a blue, cloudy sky. The Prado says the picture illustrates Ovid's Metamorphoses.

In the myth, Adonis, whom Venus loves, is killed on a hunt; here he sleeps in her lap while Cupid holds back one of his dogs, eager to set off. Veronese painted it around 1580 as a pair with Cephalus and Procris, now in Strasbourg. According to the Prado, Velázquez bought the picture in Venice in 1651 for Philip IV, and the two paintings hung together in the Alcázar in Madrid and later in the New Royal Palace. Strips added in the 18th century have been removed, so the canvas is shown at its original size, 162 by 191 centimeters.

It is in the Museo del Prado in Madrid.