Venus, Mars and Cupid

Description

Raimondi’s fascination with ancient marbles is evident in this allegory of love triumphant over war. He used the Belvedere Torso, a fragment of an ancient marble statue, as his model for the figure of Mars. The dynamic, twisting musculature of the broken sculpture inspired many artists who studied its form and incorporated it into new compositions. Here Mars sits disarmed while Venus and Cupid carry a torch of victory, their carefully modeled, static poses reminiscent of sculptures.

Provenance

(Museum of Fine Arts, Boston)

Venus, Mars and Cupid

Marcantonio Raimondi

1508

Accession Number

1924.333

Medium

engraving

Dimensions

Sheet: 28.9 x 20.9 cm (11 3/8 x 8 1/4 in.)

Classification

Print

Museum

The Cleveland Museum of Art

Cleveland, United States

Credit Line

Gift of Leonard C. Hanna Jr.