A pair of Italian white marble figures of Venus and Mars

CIRCA 1700

Details

A pair of Italian white marble figures of Venus and Mars
Circa 1700
Venus holding in her left hand a shield with Vulcan in his forge, a dolphin intertwined with her right leg, Mars wearing drapery around his waist, holding in his right hand a plain shield, his left hand raised, both on a naturalistic base
Venus: 39 in. (100 cm.) high Mars: 38 in. (98 cm.) high (2)

Literature

COMPARATIVE LITERATURE:
M. Leithe-Jasper, Renaissance Master Bronzes, Vienna, 1986, no. 75 A. Radcliffe, M. Baker, M. Maek-Grard, The Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection - Renaissance and later Sculpture, London, 1992, no. 28

Lot Essay

The present pair of marbles represents an interesting transformation of two known, but individual, models to create a new pair. The figure of Venus is based upon a Venus or Amphitrite which is currently attributed by Leithe-Jasper (loc. cit) to Jerome Duquesnoy. However, here the tree stump of the Duquesnoy model has been altered to a shield decorated with a relief of Vulcan, Venus' husband. The Mars is based upon a group of Apollo and Cupid by Francois Duquesnoy, Jerome's brother (Radcliffe et al, loc. cit.). The present version has omitted the small figure of Cupid, and the addition of the shield indicates that this is meant to represent Mars, Venus' lover. The depiction of Vulcan at his forge, mentioned above, is a reference to the fate of the pair of lovers; when Vulcan heard of Venus' affair with Mars, he forged a net with which he trapped them in their adulterous embrace.

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