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Venus, Cupid, Folly and Time
Agnolo Bronzino · Renaissance & Mannerism
- Artist
- Agnolo Bronzino (1503–1572)
- Date
- c. 1545
- Dimensions
- 146.1 x 116.2 cm
- Medium
- Oil on wood
- Location
- National Gallery, London, United Kingdom
This enigmatic allegory, painted for Cosimo I de' Medici as a gift for King Francis I of France, shows Venus, goddess of love, embracing her son Cupid in a startlingly sensual kiss, surrounded by strange figures.
A closer look
Venus holds a golden apple and slips an arrow from Cupid's quiver, while he fondles her breast. Around them crowd mysterious characters: a laughing boy about to throw rose petals, with a thorn in his foot; a girl with a sweet face but a serpent's tail and lion's legs, offering a honeycomb; an old man, Time, with an hourglass on his shoulder, pulling back a blue curtain; and a howling figure tearing at her hair. Masks lie at Venus's feet. The meaning is still debated: perhaps the pleasures of love and the jealousy, deceit and pain that follow.
