The Garden of Venus, ca. 1631–37
Pietro Testa (Italian, Roman, 1612–1650)
Etching; second or later state, lower margin trimmed
Artist Biography
Pietro Testa (Italian, Roman, 1612–1650)
Etching; second or later state, lower margin trimmed
sheet 13 3/4 x 16 11/16 in. (35 x 42.4 cm)
Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1926 (26.70.3[44])
Testa was one of a group of artists who were fascinated by the chubby infants who throng Titian's Worship of Venus, then in the Aldobrandini collection in Rome. Titian's canvas was based on a description of an ancient painting in the Imagines of the Greek poet Philostratus (ca. 190 A.D.). Testa did not attempt an exact re-creation of the Greek artwork but created a variant, in which the amorini (little loves) gather flowers rather than apples and Venus is present in the flesh rather than as a statue. Yet, as in both precedents, cupids fight, kiss, sleep, and, in the distant background, chase a hare to offer to Venus.
Related
Index Terms
Artist
Material and Technique
Subject Matter/Theme
- Figure, Deity
- Figure, Deity, Greek and Roman
- Figure, Deity, Greek and Roman, Aphrodite/Venus
- Print, Etching, Mythological
