Landscape with Venus and Cupid Riding on a Cart
Giulio di Antonio Bonasone
Description
Gallery Rotation Spring/Summer 2012
Giulio di Antonio Bonasone
Italy, active 1531–1574
Landscape with Venus and Cupid Riding on a Car
1531–74
Etching and engraving
Museum purchase, 1960/2.130
The popularity of classical mythology reached its zenith during the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries, before the Catholic Church curtailed the use of pagan themes in the arts. Like many of his contemporaries, Bonasone turned to the ancient Roman poet Ovid (43 BC–17/18 AD), and his seminal text, Metamorphoses, for inspiration. Here he shows Venus (Aphrodite), the goddess of love and beauty, seated in a chariot pulled by swans, an attribute described in Ovid’s narration of her love affair with the beautiful mortal Adonis. In this story Venus warns her beloved against hunting the wild boar that will inevitably kill him; he does not pay heed and after departing in her chariot, she hears Adonis’s anguished, last cries. With this the goddess of love herself experiences the sorrow of loss.
Subject Matter:
Venus and Cupid, shown with her attributes of putti and her swan-drawn chariot or car were popular images in the 16th century.
Physical Description:
Venus and Cupid are seen sitting in a chariot pulled by two swans that are embraced by two putti. Behind is a landscape with towns and houses.
Usage Rights:
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