Iconography with An Allegory with Venus and Cupid

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Iconography with An Allegory with Venus and Cupid
An Allegory with Venus and Cupid raised awareness about syphilis to its contemporaries.


Figure 1: Agnolo di Cosimo Bronzino, An Allegory with Venus and Cupid, c. 1545, oil on panel, 146.1 x 116.2 cm (National Gallery, London)

Agnolo di Cosimo Bronzino painted a masterpiece titled An Allegory with Venus and Cupid. The painting portrays Venus, the main focus figure, kissing her son Cupid in a disturbingly erotic manner. However, there is much more in the painting than just the erotic scene of the foreground.  The analysis of the symbolism of Cupid’s arrow in Venus’ hand, the female figure on the right next to the couple who has the tail of a serpent, and the agonized face that can be seen on the left will reveal that An Allegory with Venus and Cupid raised awareness about syphilis to its contemporaries.

An Allegory with Venus and Cupid focuses on two primary figures, Venus and Cupid, embracing one another’s bodies in a sexual manner. Venus, who is nude, is holding an arrow on her right hand. Beside them on the right is another nude figure who is holding blossoms to be thrown on Venus and Cupid. Behind him is a female figure who has the tail of a serpent and holds a honeycomb in her hand. On the left side of the couple is a male face filled with agony with his hands clutching his head. Bronzino painted An Allegory with Venus and Cupid in 1545. According to a journal by, Christopher Cook, “[the painting] provides an insight into the erotic tastes favoured by the Italian and French courts of the 16th century, a time before the widespread recognition of the sexually transmitted infections. However, in the 50 years prior to the Allegory's conception, Europe was introduced to a new disease – syphilis.”[1]

 Venus’ right hand holds Cupid’s arrow. According to the Cupid’s Arrow: The Course of Love Through Time, by Robert Sternberg, Cupid is the god of love with his arrows he can make anyone fall in love.[2] However, in this case Venus is taking away Cupid’s symbol of love and desire in order to “seduce Cupid, either to equip herself with his powers or …to take away his powers...Venus conquers Cupid by sweetness.”[3] Bronzino portray the power of sex and lust through Venus and Cupid. By doing so, he shown that Syphilis can be transmitted through the act of sex, and gave his audience a public health notice of how the disease can be spread.

Behind the nude figure holding blossoms is a female figure that with the tail of a serpent who holds a honeycomb in her hand. “[The girl with a]  poisonous scorpion’s tail is juxtaposed symbolically with the honeycomb to represent the terrible dangers lurking behind love”[4] With this figure, Bronzino shown the risk factors involved in love which in this case is Syphilis. With a public health notice, he was able to show that Syphilis is the consequence of sex.

A figure screaming in agony, the male figure with patchy hair clenches his head with swollen hands. His mouth open in a scream are the “[Symptoms of syphilitic alopecia which are] malaise, headache, flush, and sore throat,… a transient skin rash and marked loss of hair.”[5] Through the male figure, Bronzino is showing the pain of Syphilis. He specifically painted the patchiness of hair, swollen hands, and pain to show it is brought by headaches that are the symptoms of Syphilis look like.

All in all, Agnolo di Cosimo Bronzino painting An Allegory with Venus and Cupid was able to give a public health awareness of syphilis. He did so by using symbolism of Cupid’s arrow in Venus’ hand that brought attention to how syphilis can be transmitted through sex. Through the female figure who has the tail of a serpent, he was able to show syphilis is the consequence of sex. Lastly, painting the figure with a agonized face give awareness of what the symptoms of syphilis are.

   

[1] Cook, Christopher. “An Allegory with Venus and Cupid: A Story of Syphilis.” Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine 103, no. 11 (2010): 458-460.

[2] Sternberg, Robert J, Cupid's Arrow: The Course of Love Through Time (Cambridge University Press, 2000), 105.

[3] Keach William,"Cupid Disarmed, or Venus Wounded? An Ovidian Source for Michelangelo and Bronzino." Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, 41 no. 1 (1978): 327-31. doi:10.2307/750879.

[4] Silvia Malaguzzi, Food and Feasting in Art. (Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 2008), 267.
[5] Janet Vafaie, Jeffrey Weinberg,Barry Smith,and Richard Mizuguchi "Alopecia In Association With Sexually Transmitted Disease: A Review." Cutis 76, no. 6 (2005)

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