O Centauro ferido (verso: o Nascimento de Vênus?)

This is one of the few surviving mythologies by a painter better known for altarpieces, and it reads like a puzzle set for a learned patron. A centaur slumps wounded among the rocks. The story comes from the Roman poet Ovid, where the wise centaur Chiron accidentally cuts himself on an arrow poisoned with the Hydra's blood. Lippi changes it: the quiver here seems to belong to Cupid, who lounges in the shadows behind, so the wound becomes an allegory about the dangers of playing with love. It was painted in the years when Florence was rediscovering its classical texts and wealthy collectors wanted clever pagan subjects for their studies. Turn the panel over and there is an unfinished drawing, left just as Lippi abandoned it.