Venus, Cupid, Folly and Time

Venus, Cupid, Folly, and Time is an allegorical painting by the Florentine artist Agnolo Bronzino.

Around 1545, Bronzino (1503-1572), was commissioned to create a painting which has come to be known as "Venus, Cupid, Folly, and Time". It displays the ambivalence, eroticism and obscure imagery which is characteristic of the Mannerist period.

The painting had been commissioned by the Duke of Florence, Cosimo de' Medici, to be given by him as a gift to Francis I of France. The erotic imagery would have appealed to the tastes prevalent in both the Medici and French courts at this time.

The attention to texture and wealth is consistent with Bronzino's aristocratic patronage. The figure of Venus can be likened to a precious object in a luxurious setting, desirable because of her unavailability.

Crowded into the claustrophobic foreground of the painting are several figures whose identity has been the subject of extensive scholarly debate. The themes of the painting appear to be lust, deceit, and jealousy. At times it has also been called "A Triumph of Venus". Its meaning, however, remains elusive.

The two central figures are easily identified as Venus and Cupid. Both are nude, illuminated in a radiant white light. Cupid fondles his mother's bare breast and kisses her lips. They are being showered with rose petals by a boy, believed to represent Folly.

The bearded, bald figure at to the upper right of the scene is believed to be Time. He is being assisted by another, unknown, figure (Truth?). They draw aside a curtain to reveal the incestuous transgressions of Venus and the adolescent Cupid.

The identity of the remaining figures is unknown. The old woman rending her hair has been called Jealousy, and the creature at the right hand side, with a girl's face and grotesque body, who extends a honeycomb with her left hand attached to her right arm, has been identified as Fraud. There is, however, no consensus on these identifications.

In modern times, the foot of Cupid was used by Terry Gilliam in the opening animated titles of Monty Python's Flying Circus, to squash an animated Queen Victoria.