Three Artwork Styles that Depict Venus and Mars
The iconography of love triumphing over war
Sometimes art can teach us the most fundamental of lessons.
The painting above shows Venus, the goddess of love and fertility. Next to her is Mars, the god of war.
When read as an allegory, the message is of his aggressive nature subdued by her grace. When Venus and Mars are shown together like this, the symbolism is of Love conquering Strife.
Both Homer and Ovid tell of the two gods becoming lovers. The allegory became especially popular in Renaissance times, when the moral message reflected the code of chivalry of the Renaissance courtier, whose best values were thought to combine manly courage with honourable romance.
This painting, by Paolo Veronese (1528–1588), shows Venus and Mars in a romantic embrace surrounded by trees and shrubbery. Veronese is thought to have been commissioned to make the work by Emperor Maximilian II, head of the Holy Roman Empire.
A wide array of symbols can be read in the work. Notice for instance how Venus clutches her breast, expressing the flow of milk. This is a…
