![]() Unravelling the painting’s meaning would have been part of its appeal – a pleasure to both the eye and the intellect – a duality frequently referred to in Bronzino’s poetry. He wrote conventional love lyrics derived from the poetry of Petrarch as well as more bawdy poems. These types of complex, multilayered themes are found in poetry of the period, and Bronzino, like Michelangelo, was an accomplished poet as well as a painter. The figure tearing their hair was originally lower down, and Venus‘ arm was bent further back caressing Cupid’s curls. There are indications that he may have had to make it quickly as there are, for him, an unusually large number of instances where he made alterations to outlines and changed his mind during painting. ![]() Bronzino’s Allegory perhaps had a similar intention. A famous drawing depicting the adultery of Mars and Venus (now in the Louvre, Paris), which Rosso Fiorentino sent to the French king in 1530, is thought to celebrate the king giving up his war-like ambitions in Italy. If the painting was a diplomatic gift, then it is also possible that it has a political meaning. Equally it may be about the painful consequences of unchaste love, presided over by pleasure and deceit. The painting’s message may have been about Beauty curbing Passion to protect us from Jealousy, Fraud and Folly, and enabling Time to combat the Oblivion that Passion entails. However, such an overt reference to syphilis would have been inappropriate in a painting for the French king – the illness was known at the time as ‘the French disease’ because it was believed to have been brought to Italy by French troops. The figure clutching their head behind Cupid has been variously identified as Suffering, Jealously and Syphilis, displaying some of the symptoms of the disease. Time may be attempting to stop Oblivion from concealing Venus and Cupid’s actions. He glares towards another figure in the background whose head appears to have no back or contents and who may represent Oblivion, also holding the cloth. He holds a blue cloth with which he attempts either to conceal or reveal this series of deceits. It is not easy to make out what he is doing. In the background is winged Father Time, identified by his hourglass. The mantle pinned with a brooch to her shoulder is of cangiante colours that resemble shot silk – from one angle it appears pink, from another pale blue – as changeable and deceptive as she is. However, her concealed serpent’s body suggests that her offer of sweetness literally has a sting in its tail. Fraud or Deceit, the pretty girl behind Pleasure, offers Cupid a honeycomb. He doesn’t seem to notice the thorn piercing his right foot – Pleasure is frequently followed by Pain. The smiling little boy with the anklet of bells is foolish Pleasure, who is about to shower the pair with rose petals. ![]() The masks at Venus‘ feet suggest that she and Cupid exploit lust to mask deception. ![]() Cupid squats with his bare buttocks provocatively thrust out and fondles Venus’ breast, squeezing her nipple as he returns her kiss, while attempting to steal her crown. Venus holds the golden apple which Paris presented to her as the most beautiful of all goddesses, and her traditional attribute of a pair of doves rest on the ground. Bronzino may have recalled a painting by his teacher Pontormo showing Venus robbing Cupid of his arrow (Uffizi, Florence), which was based on a drawing by Michelangelo. Venus, goddess of love, steals an arrow from her son Cupid’s quiver as she kisses him on the lips. The picture contains a tangle of moral messages, presented in a sexually explicit image. ![]() However, there appears to be no record of the painting ever having been in the French royal collection. It was probably sent to him as a gift from Cosimo I de‘ Medici, ruler of Florence, who employed Bronzino as a court painter. The erotic yet erudite subject matter of the painting was well suited to the tastes of King Francis I of France, who was notoriously lecherous. It is likely to be the painting mentioned in Vasari’s ‘Life of Bronzino’ of 1568: ‘He made a picture of singular beauty, which was sent to King Francis in France in which was a nude Venus with Cupid kissing her, and on one side Pleasure and Play with other Loves and on the other, Fraud, Jealousy, and other passions of love.’ Its intended meaning is not entirely certain. This is one of Bronzino’s most complex and enigmatic paintings. ![]()
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