Venus and Mars, Renaissance painting by Sandro Botticelli, circa 1483

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Venus watches Mars sleep while two infant satyrs play, carrying his helmet (a sallet) and lance as another rests inside his breastplate under his arm. A fourth blows a small conch shell in his ear in an effort, so far unsuccessful, to wake him. The clear implication is that the couple have been making love, and the male habit of falling asleep after sex was a regular subject for ribald jokes in the context of weddings in Renaissance Italy. The lance and conch can be read as sexual symbols.

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Size: 7647px × 3048px
Location: National Gallery, London, UK
Photo credit: © ICP / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

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