Venus and Mars (Botticelli) an "enchantingly primitivistic pastoral" where Botticelli's version is a "solemnly classicizing allegory". Literary sources Venus and Mars (Botticelli) Venus and Mars (or Mars and Venus) is a panel painting of about 1485 by the Italian Renaissance painter Sandro Botticelli. It shows the Roman gods Venus, goddess of love, and Mars, god of war, in an allegory of beauty and valour. The youthful and voluptuous couple recline in a forest setting, surrounded by playful baby satyrs. The painting was probably intended to commemorate a wedding, set into panelling or a piece of furniture to adorn the bedroom of the bride and
Sandro Botticelli Pollaiuolo and others, although views on this differ. A Botticello who was probably Sandro's brother Giovanni was close to Lorenzo. Although the patrons of many works not for churches remain unclear, Botticelli seems to have been used more by Lorenzo il Magnifico's two young cousins, his younger brother Giuliano, and other families allied to the Medici. Tommaso Soderini, a close ally of Lorenzo, obtained the commission for the figure of "Fortitude" of 1470 which is Botticelli's earliest securely dated painting, completing a series of the "Seven Virtues" left unfinished by Piero Pollaiuolo. Possibly they had been introduced by a Vespucci