Venus entrusting Cupid to Time
Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo Italian
After Giovanni Battista Tiepolo Italian
Not on view
This composition celebrates the birth of a child, whom Venus consigns to Saturn in his role as Father Time. The Graces sprinkle roses, and the doves that draw Venus' chariot kiss overhead. The child was once identified as Cupid, yet his lack of wings and the presence beneath him of a winged infant with a quiver play down that interpretation. On the other hand, the winged child may be delivering the sheaf of arrows—which seems too heavy for him—to the newborn. Other suggestions for the baby's identity are Venus' son Aeneas—an appropriate subject if the room contained stories from Virgil's Aeneid—or a son from the noble family that commissioned the work.
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