AresAphrodite1.0011

Sandro Botticelli, "Mars and Venus," tempera and oil on poplar panel, ca. 1485, National Gallery, London, NG 915

Judging by the size and theme of this lovely painting, it is thought to have been a headboard or the front panel of a wedding trouseau. The matrimonial theme trumps the martial role of Mars. "Venus...looks on, clearly controlling the figure here, despite Mars's weapons." (Harris & Platzner)

National Gallery site: "[Such paintings as this were] comissioned for furniture in bedchambers, when a son was getting married. [It] might therefore represent subjects or characters particularly associated with love and marriage: erotic pictures ... or images intended to instruct the new bride."

A bleaker view of the marriage of Venus and Mars is imagined in Rubens' 1637 "Horrors of War". Cf. Morford & Lenardon 129.