Mars and Venus
Medium
Engraving
Dimensions
Sheet: 17 1/8 × 12 7/8 in. (43.5 × 32.7 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1949
Accession Number
49.97.681
Tags
Art Historical Context
Created in 1588, *Mars and Venus* represents a dynamic collaboration between Flemish painter Bartholomeus Spranger and Dutch engraver Hendrick Goltzius. Spranger, court artist to Emperor Rudolf II in Prague, supplied the design, while Gzius translated it into this elegant engraving. The medium allowed the sensual Mannerist style—characterized by elongated figures and graceful poses—to reach a wide European audience through affordable prints. The subject draws from classical mythology, depicting the god of war and goddess of love in an intimate encounter that symbolized the triumph of love ove...