03 — ARTWORK
Venus, Mars, and Cupid
- MEDIUM
- Poplar panel, 72 x 182 cm
- TYPE
- Mythological
PALETTE
HOVER OR TAP A SWATCH FOR NAME, SHARE AND HEX. SAMPLED FROM THE IMAGE — INDICATIVE, NOT A PIGMENT ANALYSIS.
THIS REPRODUCTION
DOWNLOAD THE FULL FILE ↓
CURRENT LOCATION · Staatliche Museen (Berlin)
- FILE
- 1292 × 500 px · JPEG
COMMENTARY
UNDERLINED TERMS ARE DEFINED IN THE GLOSSARY.
Despite the different datings they have been given the two panels (Death of Procris, and Venus and Mars) may have formed part of a cycle illustrating themes from ancient mythology. The long shape of the panels suggest that they may have decorated a cassoneUsually used as a marriage chest, and the most elaborately decorated piece of furniture of the Renaissance. Cassoni traditionally were made in pairs and sometimes bore the respective coats of arms of the bride and groom. They contained the bride's clothes, linen, and many other items of her dowry. In the 15th century, when the greatest importance was attached to suitable marital alliances between Florence's wealthiest families, the cassone reached great heights of artistic achievement. Florentine artists such as Sandro Botticelli, Paolo Uccello, and Donatello were employed to decorate cassoni with paintings set in an architectural framework. Battle scenes and classical and literary themes were especially popular. A number of paintings from cassoni of this period have been preserved. Sixteenth-century cassoni were elaborately carved with mythological and grotesque figures, decorated with gilt gesso, putti (cupids), and swags of fruit and flowers, or enriched with intarsia (mosaics of wood). Although the finest marriage chests came from Italy, they were also used in other countries. chest.
Another aspect of Piero's artistic personality is his ability to infuse his subjects with wit and fantasy. The subject matter is sensual in nature, with Cupid nestling beside Venus' breast near a long-eared rabbit, a symbol of sexual excess. The black and white birds down below seem to symbolize the lovers, Venus and an exhausted Mars asleep on the ground.
This panelTerm in painting for a support of wood, metal, or other rigid substance, as distinct from canvas. Until the adoption of canvas in the 15th century nearly all the movable paintings of Europe were executed on wood, and even up to the beginning of the 17th century it is probable that as much painting was done on the one support as on the other. Painters who worked on a small scale often used copper panels (Elsheimer is a leading example), and in the colonial art of South America copper and tin and even lead and zinc were used. On a larger scale, slate has occasionally been used as a support, notably by Rubens for his altarpiece for Sta Maria in Vallicella (the Chiesa Nuova) in Rome; the picture he originally painted was said to reflect the light unpleasantly and slate was used for the replacement to produce a more matt finish. For wood panels the Italian masters of the Renaissance preferred white poplar, while oak was the most common wood used in northern Europe. Many other types were used, however; analysis of the contents of art galleries has yielded a long list, including beech, cedar, chestnut, fir, larch, linden, mahogany, olive, and walnut. In the 20th century cedar, teak, and dark walnut are favourites, and modern painters have also used plywood, fibre-board, and other synthetic materials as supports. may have been painted as part of a suite of marital furniture, such as a bedstead, hope chest, or friezea horizontal band of architectural decoration; in a classical entablature, the horizontal member band between the architrave and the cornice..
Suggested listening (streaming mp3, 4 minutes):
Francesco Gasparini: The Meddlesome Cupid, aria
OTHER WORKS BY PIERO DI COSIMO
CITE THIS RECORD — BIBTEX
@online{wga-r9cd70a6ebe6b8d,
author = {Krén, Emil and Marx, Daniel},
title = {Venus, Mars, and Cupid by PIERO DI COSIMO},
organization = {{Web Gallery of Art}},
date = {2026-09-13},
url = {https://beta.wga.hu/artists/piero-di-cosimo-rf2493ef8122f53/venus-mars-and-cupid-r9cd70a6ebe6b8d},
urldate = {2026-09-13},
langid = {english}
}ACCESSED 2026-09-13. REPLACE THE AUTHOR FIELD WITH THE COMMENTARY AUTHOR WHERE ONE IS NAMED.