The Empire of Flora - Poussin

The painting brings together various myths whose common theme is metamorphosis into a flower. On the left, Ajax commits suicide: a carnation falls from his blood. To the right of Ajax, Narcissus gazes at his reflection in the water of a jar. Behind Narcissus, Clytie, holding a basket of sunflowers in her right hand, turns toward the sun chariot of Apollo, her lover, and covers her eyes with her hand, dazzled. In the foreground on the right, Crocus and Smilax are entwined like bindweed. Above them, Adonis, the young man in the blue tunic, turns to look at the wound on his thigh, which will cause his death. Two greyhounds accompany the young hunter. Hyacinth, facing forward, draped in yellow, touches the wound on his head: his blood has turned into hyacinth bells in his hair and on the palm of his right hand.