- Title:
- Mars and Venus
- Object name(s):
- Picture; Italian
- Brief description:
- Venus, goddess of love and beauty, twists to embrace her lover, Mars, god of war, who has thrown off his armour in his haste to reach her bed. Mars is only half on the bed with Venus above him as he meets her lips in the urgency of their desire.A pair of doves, an attribute of Venus, are beside winged Cupid, who struggles to untie the laces of Mars' footwear. Venus is married to Vulcan. The voluminous red bed drapes are looped around the bedposts to reveal this scene of adultery like a stage set. The earthiness of the deities' forbidden passion is echoed and expressed in the painting's sultry colour palette. The haste of the brushwork suggests that this picture was never intended to be displayed where it would be closely inspected.When Mars and Venus was presented to the National Gallery in 1838 it was considered unsuitable for public exhibition, and so it hung for many years in the Director's office.
- Collection:
- National Gallery
- Accession date:
- 1838-01-01
- Date - earliest / single:
- 1838
- Date - latest:
- 1838
- Acquisition source:
- Hugh Percy, 3rd Duke of Northumberland
- Associated concept:
- Vulcan
- Associated concept:
- Venus
- Associated concept:
- Ridolfi (tr)
- Associated concept:
- mythology
- Associated concept:
- Mars
- Associated concept:
- Cupid
- Associated concept:
- armour
- Associated concept:
- doves
- Credit line:
- Presented by the Duke of Northumberland, 1838
- Current location:
- Not on display
- Current reproduction location:
- 891/398/104/mid_N-1866-00-000018.jpg
- Dimension:
- Height
- Dimension measured part:
- Overall
- Dimension measurement unit:
- cm
- Dimension value:
- 132.70
- Dimension:
- Width
- Dimension measured part:
- Overall
- Dimension measurement unit:
- cm
- Dimension value:
- 168.40
- Form:
- None
- Material:
- oil on canvas
- Material:
- oil
- Material:
- canvas
- Object name:
- Picture; Italian (Venetian)
- Object production date:
- about 1590
- Date - earliest / single:
- 1590
- Date - latest:
- 1590
- Object production date:
- Date - period:
- 1575-99
- Object production person:
- Palma Giovane
- Person's birth date:
- 1554
- Person's death date:
- 1628
- Object production place:
- Italy
- Object production place:
- Venice
- Other number:
- NG1866
- Other number type:
- object number
- Other number:
- 0GL0-0001-0000-0000
- Other number type:
- PID
- Other number:
- NG1866
- Other number type:
- display number
- Other number:
- 000-04KR-0000
- Other number type:
- PID (NG alternative)
- Other number:
- ng31866
- Other number type:
- sort number
- Owner:
- Hugh Percy, 3rd Duke of Northumberland
- Responsible department/section:
- Main Collection
- Right note:
- To encourage the use and reuse of the National Gallery's collection data, they are released under the following dedications and licences: Structured data (as opposed to narrative texts) are released under a Creative Commons Zero dedication (CC0): https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/. Descriptions, notes and all other narrative text content are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence (CC BY): https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. Images are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 licence (CC BY-NC-ND): https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.
- Style:
- nudes
- Style:
- high Renaissance
- User's reference:
- National Gallery Catalogues: The Sixteenth Century Italian Schools
- Reference details:
- 183-4
- Reference note:
- Previous catalogues
- Reference type:
- reference
- User's reference:
- The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue
- Reference details:
- 515
- Reference note:
- Key bibliography
- Reference type:
- reference
- User's reference:
- National Gallery Catalogues: The Sixteenth Century Italian Paintings
- Reference details:
- 2.102-7
- Reference note:
- Select bibliography
- Reference type:
- reference
- User's reference:
- National Gallery Catalogues: The Sixteenth Century Venetian School
- Reference details:
- 56-7
- Reference note:
- Select bibliography
- Reference type:
- reference
- User's reference:
- Delaroche and Gautier: Gautier's Views on the 'Execution of Lady Jane Grey' and on other Compositions by Delaroche
- Reference details:
- 183
- Reference note:
- Select bibliography
- Reference type:
- reference
- User's reference:
- Le maraviglie dell'arte
- Reference details:
- 2.202
- Reference note:
- Select bibliography
- Reference type:
- reference
- User's reference:
- Palma il Giovane: L'opera completa
- Reference note:
- Select bibliography
- Reference type:
- reference
- User's reference:
- A Note of the Pictures at Northumberland House Taken and Appraised by Mr Symon Stone the 30th of June 1671
- Reference details:
- 70
- Reference note:
- Select bibliography
- Reference type:
- reference
- User's reference:
- Storia dell'arte italiana
- Reference details:
- 9.7.237
- Reference note:
- Select bibliography
- Reference type:
- reference
- User's reference:
- I pittori bergamaschi dal XIII al XIX secolo
- Reference details:
- 3.541-670
- Reference note:
- Select bibliography
- Reference type:
- reference
- User's reference:
- The Carracci Cartoons at the National Gallery
- Reference note:
- Select bibliography
- Reference type:
- reference
- User's reference:
- A Palma Giovine in the National Gallery?
- Reference note:
- Select bibliography
- Reference type:
- reference
- User's reference:
- Van Dyck and the Earl of Northumberland: Taste and Collecting in Stuart England
- Reference note:
- Select bibliography
- Reference type:
- reference
- User's reference:
- Venetian Seventeenth-Century painting: A Loan Exhibition from Collections in Britain and Ireland
- Reference details:
- 49
- Reference note:
- Select bibliography
- Reference type:
- reference
- User's reference:
- Palma il Giovane, 1548-1628: Disegni e dipinti
- Reference details:
- 192-3
- Reference note:
- Select bibliography
- Reference type:
- reference
- User's reference:
- Van Dyck and the Earl of Northumberland: Taste and Collecting in Stuart England I
- Reference note:
- Select Bibliography
- Reference type:
- reference
Persistent shareable link for this record: https://museumdata.uk/objects/58127fab-3263-32b1-8369-9a593d6e249f
Use licence for this record: CC BY
Attribution for this record: https://museumdata.uk/objects/58127fab-3263-32b1-8369-9a593d6e249f, National Gallery, CC BY
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