Description of the picture:
Mars and Venus bound by love – Paolo Veronese. 1570s Canvas, oil. 205.7×161
One of the best Venetian painters Paolo Veronese embodied in his own paintings the spirit of Venice, this wealthy, plentiful, solemn town. He loved to paint feasts, so even in his canvases on other topics reigns feast of the flesh and the entire visible world.
The presented picture, which, along with several others, was stored in the collection of Emperor Rudolph II in Prague and, apparently, was commissioned by him for coronation, depicts union of Venus and Mars, the goddess of love and the god of war, whom cupid ties with silk ribbon. Mars is tamed and calm – the war obeyed love. The artist hints at sublime love – on the right, the cupid holds back the horse with a sword, a symbol of low passion, and the lustful satyr froze in stone. But the picture has a lot of sensual, and not only in the naked body of Venus, the beauty of which is emphasized by a pearl necklace and bracelets: everything, as usual with Veronese, is written here compulsorily – both the heavy silk cloak of Mars, and the smooth body of a horse, and snow-white warm marble.
All around triumphs the victory of love, including the color of the picture. French painter Paul Cezanne said of Veronese: “He wrote because we look at the world, just as naturally. His language was paint. ”"