Mars disarms Cupid, who had gained power over Mars.
Paris Bordone -
Allegoy; Mars, Venus, Flora and Cupid [~ 1560] -
Vienna KHM
Here the power of love is presented in the picture at an ironic distance, overpowering even Mars, the God of War. Mars, already stripped of most of his weapons – Venus leans with satisfaction against a mirror to the left – seems to look indignantly at Cupid, the originator of his defencelessness; Mars has punished Cupid by taking away his bow and arrow. The aggressive, restless colouring, the artificial body postures and fashionable accessories, and the contradiction between openly depicted eroticism and the composition’s lack of context are typical of this Mannerist phase of Venetian painting.
Mars disarms Cupid, who had gained power over Mars.
Paris Bordone -
Allegoy; Mars, Venus, Flora and Cupid [~ 1560] -
Vienna KHM
Here the power of love is presented in the picture at an ironic distance, overpowering even Mars, the God of War. Mars, already stripped of most of his weapons – Venus leans with satisfaction against a mirror to the left – seems to look indignantly at Cupid, the originator of his defencelessness; Mars has punished Cupid by taking away his bow and arrow. The aggressive, restless colouring, the artificial body postures and fashionable accessories, and the contradiction between openly depicted eroticism and the composition’s lack of context are typical of this Mannerist phase of Venetian painting.