Mars, Venus and Cupid

1508

Marcantonio Raimondi
Italian, 1470/82-1527/34

Marcantonio Raimondi’s engraving Mars, Venus, and Cupid was one of his most sought-after works. Mars, the Roman god of war, and Venus, the goddess of love, are depicted with Cupid in front of a background inspired by Albrecht Dürer. In Roman mythology, the two gods had an affair even though Venus was married to Vulcan, the god of fire. Mars sits with his elbow on his knee as he twists his muscular body to grab Venus by the shoulder. Venus looks down and away, toward Cupid, who pushes a flaming torch, a symbol of passionate love, at her.

Status: On View, Gallery 204
Department: Prints and Drawings

Artist: Marcantonio Raimondi
Title: Mars, Venus and Cupid
Place: Italy (Artist's nationality:)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: 1508
Medium: Engraving in black on cream laid paper
Dimensions: Image: 29.9 × 21 cm (11 13/16 × 8 5/16 in.); Plate: 30.2 × 21.5 cm (11 15/16 × 8 1/2 in.); Sheet: 34 × 25 cm (13 7/16 × 9 7/8 in.)
Credit Line: The Amanda S. Johnson and Marion J. Livingston Fund
Reference Number: 2010.47
IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.: https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/202430/manifest.json

Bartsch 345 II/II

Delaborde 119 III/III

Passavant 136

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Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

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IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.

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IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.