Venus, Cupid, Folly and Time. Venus, Cupid, Folly and Time is an allegorical painting of about 1545 by the Florentine painter Agnolo Bronzino.
It is now in the National Gallery, London. Scholars do not know for certain what the painting depicts.
The painting has come to be known as Venus, Cupid, Folly and Time, and it is generally agreed that these are the principal figures. Cupid and Venus kiss in the foreground, while the putto Folly prepares to shower them with rose petals.
The bald Time, at the top, looks on and holds a cloth. The meaning of the other three figures and the interactions between them all is much less certain.
The painting displays the ambivalence, eroticism, and obscure imagery that are characteristic of the Mannerist period, and of Bronzino's master Pontormo. The painting may have been commissioned by Cosimo I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany or by Francesco Salviati, to be presented by him as a gift to Francis I of France. Vasari wrote that a Bronzino painting, probably this one, was sent to King Francis, though he does not specify by whom: 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. The erotic imagery would have appealed to the tastes prevalent in both the Medici and French courts at thi
It is now in the National Gallery, London. Scholars do not know for certain what the painting depicts.
The painting has come to be known as Venus, Cupid, Folly and Time, and it is generally agreed that these are the principal figures. Cupid and Venus kiss in the foreground, while the putto Folly prepares to shower them with rose petals.
The bald Time, at the top, looks on and holds a cloth. The meaning of the other three figures and the interactions between them all is much less certain.
The painting displays the ambivalence, eroticism, and obscure imagery that are characteristic of the Mannerist period, and of Bronzino's master Pontormo. The painting may have been commissioned by Cosimo I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany or by Francesco Salviati, to be presented by him as a gift to Francis I of France. Vasari wrote that a Bronzino painting, probably this one, was sent to King Francis, though he does not specify by whom: 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. The erotic imagery would have appealed to the tastes prevalent in both the Medici and French courts at thi
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