Mars and Venus c. 1510 - 1512

0:00

print, intaglio, engraving

allegory

print

intaglio

figuration

form

line

history-painting

italian-renaissance

nude

italy

engraving

Dimensions: 11 9/16 x 6 15/16 in. (29.2 x 17.5 cm) (image)

Jacopo de' Barbari created this engraving of Mars and Venus sometime between 1500 and 1516. During the Renaissance, classical mythology offered artists a rich source of subject matter through which to explore contemporary ideas about beauty, love, and the human condition. Here, we see Mars, the god of war, still in armor, standing alongside Venus, the goddess of love, who is nude save for the child Cupid nestled in her arms. De' Barbari reverses the traditional power dynamic. Instead of portraying Mars as dominant, he appears subdued by Venus’s sensual gaze. Venus’s exposure contrasts sharply with Mars’s full armor, drawing a distinction between male and female roles in love and war. The artist uses the story of Mars and Venus to probe the complexities of desire, power, and vulnerability. Consider how the artist uses classical forms to explore the tension between love and war, revealing the emotional nuances of human relationships.

Comments

minneapolisinstituteofart over 1 year ago

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The difference between masculine and feminine psychology is marked, in mythology, by the love between Mars, the god of the war, and Venus, the goddess of love and beauty. The two gods often appear in Renaissance paintings connected with marriage and destined to decorate bedrooms. Jacopo de’ Barbari’s engraving follows the conventional representation of the two characters, one dressed in full armor, the other in all the splendor of her naked body. Cupid (from the Latin word cupido, “desire”), the god of erotic love, is represented here as an innocent child in the arms of his mother Venus. The trio forms the perfect image of an ideal family, where the father protects and cares for his beautiful, defenseless wife and for his tender baby.