Venus and Cupid

This reclining Venus is a knowing quotation. Allori built her from the great Florentine models he could study up close, the sensual pose descending from his master Bronzino, the teasing struggle between the goddess and her son Cupid drawn from a famous design by Michelangelo. Around 1570 he had access to collections that held exactly such pictures to learn from. The subject was not innocent. The painting is thought to have been made for Francesco de' Medici to celebrate his love for Bianca Cappello, the mistress he would later marry, an erotic mythology for a private room. Cupid lets himself be disarmed and returns the goddess's look, the whole scene polished to the cool, enamel finish that Florentine taste still prized.