Allegory of Agnolo Bronzino

Agnolo Bronzino "Allegory with Venus and Cupid" (also known as "The Triumph of Venus" and "Venus, Cupid, Recklessness and Time"), ca. 1545

London, London National Gallery

Mannerism

Around 1546, Bronzino was commissioned to create a picture, which became known as "Venus, Cupid, Recklessness and Time." The picture reflects ambivalence, eroticism, and ambiguous images, characteristic for the period of Mannerism, and the teachers of Bronzino, Pontormo. The picture was possibly commissioned by Cosimo I of the Medici or Francesco Salviati as a gift to Francis I. Vasari wrote that she was sent to King Francis, although she did not specify who it was. The use of erotic images in painting satisfied the tastes of both the Medici family and the French court. Attention to the textures and elements of luxury is also consistent with the aristocratic patronage of Bronzino. The painting was moved by Napoleon from Paris to Vienna, where in 1813 it was purchased for the collection of Johannes Keglevitz from Count Franz Wenzel Kaunitsa. Since 1860, the canvas was in London.

In this large, unusually cold composition, consciously built on counterpoints of opposing movements, the greatest attention is focused on the study of faces and facial expressions. The foreground of the picture is densely filled with figures whose identification has become the subject of extensive scientific discussion. The themes of the picture are lust, lies and envy. Sometimes the meaning of the canvas is also interpreted, like the Triumph of Venus. The original meaning, however, remains unclear.

The figures of Cupid, together with his mother (Venus) and naked Putto, on the right, make up characteristic of Mannerism figura serpentinata. Two central figures, as easily identified by their attributes, are Venus and Cupid. Venus holds a golden apple in her hand, which she won in the Court of Paris, and the Cupid wears characteristic wings and a quiver. Both figures are depicted naked, illuminated by a direct white light. Cupid caresses the naked breast of his mother, and kisses her on the lips, while Venus delivers an arrow from his quiver.

A bearded, bald old man in the upper right corner of the scene is usually considered Chronos, because of the hourglasses depicted behind him. He unfolds his hand to the right with force. It is difficult to interpret this gesture with certainty; perhaps it's resistance to trying to figure in the upper left corner of the picture to protect Venus and Cupid from incestuous crime with a waving blue canvas creating a veil between the figures on the back and foregrounds. One of the possible readings of this action: "Time is fleeting, and you do not know when things can end." Another figure holding a drapery, and opposing Chronos, is considered to be Oblivion, because of a face that looks like a mask and lack of eyes. The masked face of Oblivion resembles two real masks that lie in the lower right corner at the feet of Venus.

The characters of the other characters are even more ambiguous. An old woman tearing her hair was called a metaphor for Jealousy, although some consider her to represent the devastating effects of syphilis (the result of an unreasonable sexual intercourse). The being on the right side, behind Putto, with the girl's face and the grotesque body of the chimera, stretching towards the Venus of the honeycomb, can represent Pleasure and Deception. There is no unequivocal opinion on the identification of this figure at the moment.