#venusdeity

[greekromangods]

Venus and Cupid

Frederic Leighton (1830–1896)

Oil on canvas

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[nerdformythology]

Still can't believe I had the honor to see one of my favorite paintings live in Belgium I wanna SCREAM

"Mars being disarmed by Venus" by Jacques-Louis David

[aphroditekaivenus]

Venus Removing Her Sandal

1860

Holme Cardwell (1813/15–1895), after the Antique

White marble

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[dionysosandbacchus]

Visit my other blog dedicated to APHRODITE & VENUS.

[greekromangods]

Mars and Venus

After Antonio Canova (1757–1822)  

Marble

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[greekromangods]

Venus (The Mazarin Venus)

Roman; Roman Empire, 2nd century AD

Rome, Italy (Place Found)

Marble

The J. Paul Getty Museum

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Venus, the goddess of love, stands nude, grasping a piece of cloth around her hips. The dolphin at her feet supports the figure and alludes to the goddess’s birth from the sea. This depiction of Venus ultimately derived from an extremely popular Greek statue created by the sculptor Praxiteles about 350 B.C. Indeed Praxiteles’s statue was so popular that, beginning around 100 B.C., many artists created variations on his theme of the naked Venus.

This statue is a Roman reproduction of one of those Hellenistic variants. It was discovered in Rome around 1510, where it contributed to the Renaissance revival of the Classical tradition. Scholars once believed that this statue was owned by Cardinal Mazarin, advisor to Louis XIV, king of France. Although this is unlikely, the statue is still known to many as the Mazarin Venus.

During its long history, the statue has been heavily damaged. The breasts, as well as parts of the cloth, arms, and dolphin, are restored, and the head may belong to another ancient statue. Marks on the back of the statue have been interpreted as gunshot wounds suffered during the French Revolution, although this story may be based more in romance than in fact.

[greekromangods]

Mars and Venus

Flemish; 1580

Attributed to Hans Mont (c. 1545–after 1585)

Flanders (?), Belgium (Place Created)

Bronze

The J. Paul Getty Museum

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In this tabletop bronze sculpture, Venus, the goddess of love, and Mars, the god of war, tenderly embrace in a union of opposites. Although Hans Mont composed the statue with a dominant view of Venus from the front and Mars from the side, the complex entwining of the figures encourages the viewer to walk around them. Mont reveals the characters’ personalities through the shapes of their bodies. Venus curves her elegant long limbs in an unfinished spiral around the more rectilinear posture of the muscular god of war. As is characteristic of Mannerism, naturalism is sacrificed for elegance of composition: Venus’s forearms and wrists bend illogically as she wraps her long arms around Mars. While the figures’ bodies express their emotional intimacy, their faces remain surprisingly impassive. The sculptor’s choice of theme, the small-scale format, and the artist’s use of bronze show the interest of artists and patrons in reviving the culture and art of classical antiquity, beginning in the 1400s.

Images edited by me.

[greekromangods]

Visit my other blog dedicated to Aphrodite & Venus.