Venus Disarming Love, Benedetto Gennari (Cento, 1633 – Bologna, 1715)

Emilian school of the seventeenth century
Attributable to Benedetto Gennari (Cento, 1633 – Bologna, 1715)

Venus disarms Love

oil on canvas (72 x 96 cm. – In frame 89 x 112 cm.)

Full details (click HERE)

The subject of our canvas is splendid, Venus disarming Cupid, traditionally commissioned to celebrate the love between a married couple (the painting by Alessandro Allori commissioned by Francesco I to honour his union with Bianca Cappello is famous).

Cupid, son of Venus, is represented here as a winged boy who, according to typical iconography, carries a quiver in which he keeps arrows ready to strike future lovers. Venus, by taking the bow and an arrow from his hand, intends to establish that Cupid's task is no longer necessary.

By doing so, he would deprive the god of the means to make people fall in or out of love, now visibly annoyed and irritated, so much so that he tries in vain to take back his weapon.

For this particular subject it is therefore easy to advance the hypothesis that it is an allegory of conjugal love, in which Venus, having deprived her little son of his powers, therefore has the role of protector of marital happiness – and fidelity.

This is a work of great charm, both for its meaning and for its pictorial quality, both characteristics that denote its proximity to the best Bolognese production of the first half of the seventeenth century, characterised by a harmonious fusion between the teachings inherited from the classicism of Guido Reni with the predominant ones of Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, known as Guercino (Cento 1591 - Bologna 1666), to whose prestigious workshop we are inclined to attribute the present painting.

These considerations are supported by observing in detail the stylistic aspects as well as the execution, the quality and the fact that no strictly analogous images are found.

Although it is far from easy to identify without hesitation a name among the artists gravitating towards the intent of the workshop, we are inclined to identify it in the nephew and his close collaborator Benedetto Gennari (Cento, 1633 – Bologna, 1715). The way of portraying the characters, with such a realistic style that distances itself from the baroque taste aimed at embellishing the figures through shapes and colors, the use of light that falls from above proposing chiaroscuro effects are characteristics that refer to the Guercino mold.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

The painting is sold complete with a pleasant golden frame and is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity and descriptive iconographic card.

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