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1 of 253523 objects
Mars, Venus and Cupid c.1530-67
Oil on canvas | 84.3 x 140.7 cm (support, canvas/panel/stretcher external) | RCIN 403941
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To the left Venus, reclining on a voluminous red cloth, gestures towards Mars, who is seated under a tree on the right, his right foot resting on his cuirass. Mars looks at Venus whilst taking a fruit from a basket held up to him by Cupid, at the lower right. In the landscape behind them a hunting party can be seen.
The picture is now in poor condition, making attribution difficult. It is of the same general type as the Venus and Cupid in a Landscape (Muzeum Narodwe, Warsaw), which is an autograph Bordone, but the clumsy invention evident in this work has led to an attribution to the workshop or studio of Bordone. Nevetherless, the painting demonstrates the kind of Bordone that influenced Francois Clouet’s paintings, such as his Bath of Diana (Rouen), and it is possible that it was painted in connection with Bordone’s French journeys (usually dated to 1538 and 1559). The deep-red drapery on which Venus reclines is clearly a recollection of Giorgione’s Sleeping Venus now at Dresden (in 1525 in Casa Marcello, Venice).Provenance
Charles I collection; possibly recorded by Abraham van der Doort in 1639 in the Gallery, St James's Palace (no 40); sold as from there for £10 to Colonel Webb on 30October 1649 (no 76); recovered at the Restoration and listed in the 2nd Privy Lodging Room at Whitehall in 1666 (no 180)
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Creator(s)
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Medium and techniques
Oil on canvas
Measurements
84.3 x 140.7 cm (support, canvas/panel/stretcher external)
100.6 x 156.8 x 7.4 cm (frame, external)
Category
Object type(s)