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A young family enjoys a tender moment in a leafy glade. Venus, goddess of love, holds her son Cupid’s bow as his father Mercury, god of communication and wit, teaches him to read. Mercury looks down fondly at his child but Venus gazes dreamily towards us and smiles. Unusually, Venus is shown with wings.The painting was designed as one of a pair with Venus and Cupid with a Satyr (Louvre, Paris), in which a satyr draws back the cloth covering Venus and Cupid who lie fast asleep, revealing their naked bodies stretched out in voluptuous abandon. The Louvre's painting represents the earthly Venus; the National Gallery's painting represents the celestial Venus. The two pictures were meant to be displayed together, and an inventory of 1589 records that they were hung in a ground floor bedroom of a palace in Mantua.
Title
Venus with Mercury and Cupid ('The School of Love')
Date
about 1525
Medium
Oil on canvas
Measurements
H 155.6 x W 91.4 cm
Accession number
NG10
Acquisition method
Bought, 1834
Work type
Painting
The National Gallery, London
Trafalgar Square, London, Greater London WC2N 5DN England
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