LORENZo Lotto’s enigmatic “Venus and cupid”

Lorenzo Lotto’s (1480-1557) Venus and Cupid, ca. 1540, (fig. 1) is an unconventional depiction of one of the more widely celebrated allegorical subjects of the High Renaissance in Italy. The sensual aspects of Venus are certainly apparent, but also downplayed by the picture’s affable mood and complex symbolic language. Lotto repositions Venus and Cupid as the central figures in a symbolically charged celebration of marriage. In this sense, the picture can be seen as a response to some of the more eroticized depictions of Venus from the time; especially Titian’s (1488/90-1576) bewitching Venus of Urbino of 1538. (fig. 2)

Lotto’s picture is currently believed to be from around 1540. 1 Based on the relatively contemporaneous date of Titian’s picture, it is intriguing to consider whether he had the Venus of Urbino in mind when he was painting his own work. Lotto’s overall aesthetic development has largely been considered to be independent of Titian’s influence. This is surprising, considering how strong an impact Titian had on the painting of the Veneto during Lotto’s life. A closer aesthetic analysis of Lotto’s Venus and Cupid, will thereby examine the degree to which Lotto was responding to Titian’s concept of Venus, as well as creating his own.

There were a variety of depictions of Venus and Cupid during Lotto’s time. Venus and her offspring were much-celebrated subjects in Renaissance Italy, as perhaps best memorialized in Titian’s Worship of Venus. Yet there was no set convention for the depiction of the subjects, and in fact, a great deal of experimentation with the narrative context and the configuration of their poses. Such alteration can be found in a pair of Venus and Cupid (fig. 3) scenes by Palma Vecchio, who was both a friend and competitor of Lotto’s in Venice. The two works were completed in 1515 and 1524 and appear to be related, as a pair of opposing paintings. Each shows a successive phase in the relationship between Venus and Cupid. 

The earlier picture finds Cupid as an adorable, chubby infant attached to his mother, who leans off to the left. He seems inquisitive about the world before them; he appears to seek her wisdom about it. In the later picture, Palma flips the placement of figures. Venus now leans off to the right. The cupid in Palma’s later picture is a dutiful denizen. He seems energized by the call of duty, as he lurches forward to grab the arrow of amore that will soon smite its next victim.

A version by Paris Bordone (1500-1571) (fig. 4) , as well as one attributed to Jacopo Pontormo (1494-1557) (fig. 5) showcase the diverse range in which the subjects' interrelationship was explored. Yet there is a certain consistency by which Venus remains wholly empowered. Cupid is dependent on her as a child, or as a subordinate, to be nurtured or ordered about. All of the compositions also feature Venus in a recumbent position, which undoubtedly derived from Giorgione’s widely heralded picture of the Sleeping Venus, also known as the Dresden Venus (fig. 6). Giorgione began the painting (1478-1510) and finished her figure in 1510; Titian would later complete the surrounding landscape upon Giorgione’s death in that same year. Lotto also incorporated Giorgione’s pose into his Venus, however, it is more likely a response to Titian’s Venus of Urbino.

Titian’s Venus of Urbino was the proper successor to Giorgione’s Sleeping Venus-the next step in the escalation of Venus’ erotic identity. Giorgione had begun this transformation, by painting Venus in a highly aroused state. The picture’s power comes from its voyeuristic appeal; we are given a glimpse into the unconscious desires of a beautiful woman, who is unaware of the viewer’s presence. She appears to us naked, posed as if she is engaged in a sexual dream. Titian’s Venus, however, is awakened and fully present with her desires. 

She looks directly out of the picture plane, and actively engages the viewer with a tacit understanding of erotic expectation. She is aware of and compliant with the lascivious activity that awaits her.

In some respects, Lotto’s Venus has a similar countenance. Lotto’s soft rendering of her flesh has a sensual quality that stirs the sexual appetite. A transparent silky covering sheaths her body, making her a wrapped delicacy to be savored. She also looks directly out at the viewer, with the same type of arresting focus as found in Titian’s Venus. Yet the stare of Lotto’s Venus does not bear the seductive power that makes Titian’s Venus so captivating. Their gazes produce different effects. The Venus of Urbino invites sexual excitement and intrigue. Her placid countenance of a figure that hovers on the borders of the mythological. Is this a goddess who is lying in a human woman’s bed? Or is this a human woman who is so beautiful that she appears to be a goddess?

Lotto does not seem as interested in such ambiguous identity. He does, however, play with a similar duality, by humanizing a divine figure. Lotto’s Venus appears to be looking for something more from the viewer. She seems to express a profound understanding of the viewer; her gentle smile suggests a loyalty that only comes through a deep bond. Her focus on the viewer is not interrupted by Cupid’s antics or the impending danger of the snake that lurks before her in the lower right hand corner of the composition. Such unfettered affection is the quality of an ideal lover and companion, who will be unaffected by the challenges that long-term commitment brings.

This change in Venus’ identity is one way in which Lotto reinterprets her character, and relationship with Cupid. In contrast to the pictures of his peers, Lotto has removed Venus and Cupid altogether from the context in which they are traditionally associated. They are now part of a carefully orchestrated tableaux that celebrates the virtues of marriage. The painting was indeed commissioned to decorate the interior of a wedding chamber--a setting evoked by the luxurious backdrop of red linen curtains that surround Venus and Cupid in this picture. The drapery creates a feeling of intimacy for the viewer. One feels as if he/she is enclosed in this private setting as a first hand witness to a unique and elaborate ceremony- which appears to be mainly the product of Lotto’s thriving imagination.

There is a certain inventive élan to Lotto’s use of symbolic motifs. As Peter Humfrey cautioned, however, this visual program should be read prudently, for:

“the precise meaning of Lotto’s picture language is often deliberately veiled, challenging the educated viewer to decode it...At the same time this (language) clearly must also have reflected the ideas and wishes of the sitter, who would naturally have expected at least his family and friends, if not a wider circle of privileged viewers, to be able to unravel the coded allusions. The problem for modern viewers is that we too often do not possess sufficient information about the sitter and his situation to enable us to read Lotto’s portraits as fully as his contemporaries could...”2

The likely origins of Lotto’s Venus and Cupid, however, help to reassure our interpretation of its message. Humfrey notes that the picture was most likely commissioned by Lotto’s friend, Mario d’ Armano, as a wedding gift.3 Its symbolic ornamentation particularly parallels the themes of epithalamic love poetry4, in which immortal figures are called upon to celebrate the virtues of earthly union. Venus and Cupid are obviously not to be betrothed in this scene, and in fact are depicted independent of one another. Venus seems barely aware of Cupid’s presence, much less the fact he is urinating on her.

Their interaction, however, is rife with symbolic meaning. Cupid is seen urinating through a wreath, which Venus dangles on a string. The wreath is composed out of leaves of myrtle, which had long been associated with celebration since Antiquity, and particularly with weddings. Incense, meanwhile, burns underneath the wreath. The incense burner, with its connotations of purification and use in religious rituals, thereby adds a moral gravitas to the scene to reinforce its didactic message.

The scene, however, also has a whimsical side. Cupid comically tilts his penis slightly upward so that his stream of urine will properly arc through a wreath and onto his mother’s torso. It is irresistible to observe Cupid’s satisfied expression and not ponder whether such carefree secretion has an air of sexual gratification. Urination, however, was, at the time, considered an allusion to the blessing of fertility for a mother to be. If there is any suggestion of lovemaking in this scene, it is that which will produce a healthy and robust child.

Lotto’s unique combination of motifs shows an acute awareness of the transformative potential that the symbolic device could have on his subjects. It could be used to enhance their character or reconfigure their identity entirely. The identity of Venus is explicitly denoted with the conch shell that hangs above her head. Yet Lotto simultaneously makes her into a more contemporary character by affixing her with a wedding crown that was worn by Venetian brides during the time. 

Lotto, moreover employed symbolic objects across his oeuvre, each with a wide range of interpretative possibilities—almost as if he were an alchemist. For example, the same rose petals that are splayed across Venus’ torso in the present picture take on a different meaning in his portraits of men, such as the Young Gentleman in his Study (fig. 7) and Portrait of a Man (fig. 8). Venus’ rose petals were to endow blooming fertility. The roses amidst the males, on the contrary, take on a much somber tone.

Humfrey again warns against a speculative interpretation of Lotto’s symbolic language, for the lack of information about the identity of the subjects does not allow an accurate understanding of the motifs surrounding them. Nevertheless, he does elaborate upon a proposed meaning of the Young Gentleman in his Study, “ at which the frivolity of his youth is abandoned for more serious and intellectual pursuits. The scattered petals would then serve as a warning, to the viewer as well as to the sitter, against placing too much trust in objects of only fragile and transient beauty.”5

In the Portrait of Man, meanwhile, Lotto creates a more harrowing juxtaposition. A menacing skull sticks out amidst a small pile of rose petals underneath the subject’s hand. Humfrey surmises that this combination suggests that the sitter may be in bereavement, and reaching for the roses for comfort. His grasp of this collection of motifs may also be indicative of his personality, which is “in the grip of a deep melancholy.”6

Lotto’s Venus and Cupid was an innovative response to the more conventional depictions of the figures in Italian painting during the sixteenth century. He rethought the relationship between the pair, making cupid a weightier, more adult figure, who appears not to be under the direction of his mother. 

All the while, Lotto appears to have retained some of the erotic qualities of Venus that were found in Titian’s Venus of Urbino and Giorgione’s Sleeping Venus. The influence of Titian’s work, which was completed in 1538, is contingent upon the current dating of Lotto’s picture, as it was previously believed to have been completely in the 1520’s. The recumbent pose and supple anatomy of Lotto’s Venus recall the erotic aspects of Titian’s figure, as does her sensual gaze that captivates the viewer. Still, Lotto’s Venus has a unique affability to her about her that reinforces nuptial virtue. Her ambiguous identity is but one feature of Lotto’s enigmatic image, which is equal parts wholesome, erotic, and bawdy.
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1 The picture has also been proposed to date to the 1520s, see catalogue entry of picture on the website of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
2 Humfrey, Lorenzo Lotto, p. 102. 
3 Ibid, p. 139. 
4 See Christiansen, Keith. “Lorenzo Lotto and the Tradition of Epithalamic Painting.”
5 Humfrey, p. 108. 
6 Ibid, p. 137.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bayer, Andrea, Ed., and Rodeschini Galati Maria Cristina. Bellini, Titian, and Lotto: North Italian Paintings from the Accademia Carrara, Bergamo. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2012.

Christiansen, Keith. "Lorenzo Lotto and the Tradition of Epithalamic Painting,"Apollo, 124 (September 1986), pp. 166–73.

Catalogue Entry, Metropolitan Museum of Art website. “Lorenzo Lotto, “Venus and Cupid.” The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2010, accessed May 26, 2014. https://metmuseum.org/collection/the-collection-online/search/436918

Gombrich, Ernst. Art and Illusion, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2000 (first published 1984).

Goffen, Rona. "Titian's 'Sacred and Profane Love': Individuality and Sexuality in a Renaissance Marriage Picture." Titian 500, 1993. pp. 131–32, 143.

Humfrey, Peter. Lorenzo Lotto. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1997. 

Musacchio, Jacqueline Marie, catalogue entry, in Art and Love in Renaissance Italy. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2008. pp. 153, 159.