Venus und Mars

Venus and Mars

This panel was probably a spalliera painting, one which was associated with woodwork or furniture in a Florentine palace bedchamber. Mars, the god of war, vanquished by Venus, goddess of love and beauty. The shell the satyrs use to blow into Mars' ear alludes to Venus' birth from the sea. The wasps (vespe in Italian) perhaps refer to the Vespucci family for whom Botticelli worked.