Most likely, none of them ancient goddesses artists of different times and eras did not depict on their canvases as often as the Roman Venus, identified with the Greek goddess of love and fertility Aphrodite.
But do you know (I am now addressing art lovers, and not professional art critics, who, as you know, know everything, and not those who are completely indifferent to what kind of meaning this or that painting is filled with), what exactly the artist wanted to say? , depicting Venus with certain attributes, in one or another pose, clothed or naked?
If not, then I hope you find this post interesting.

Among the many attributes with which Venus is depicted, the most common are: a pair of doves or swans (both of which can drive her chariot), a shell shell, dolphins (both reminiscent of her birth from the sea), her magic belt , a burning torch (both serve to kindle love), a flaming heart, a red rose, painted with her blood, an evergreen, like love, myrtle (both rose and myrtle were sacred plants of Venus).

Venus- often simply a synonym for female nudes in art, containing no mythological or symbolic meaning, with the exception of a few traditional attributes such as a mirror or a dove. Such images of Venus often resemble the wife or lover of the artist or his patron. Naked Venus can take large number canonized poses - standing or lying down.
Some figures of standing Venus appeared in ancient sculpture, for example, Venus Pudica (Venus the Chaste), which stands approximately as depicted Botticelli in "The Birth of Venus".

The typical pose of a reclining Venus arose in creativity Giorgione and soon established itself as a model for later artists.

Heavenly love and earthly love.

The idea of ​​two Venuses - sisters representing two kinds of love - was expressed by the Florentine humanists of the 15th century. Celestial Venus symbolized love, which was aroused by thoughts of the eternal and divine, while Earthly Venus represented beauty created in material world, as well as the principle of continuation of the human race. For humanists, both of them were virtuous - Earthly Venus was considered a step to Heavenly Venus. In art they can be distinguished by their decoration.
Terrestrial Venus richly dressed, decorated with jewelry - symbols of earthly vanity;

Celestial Venus - naked and sometimes holding a vase in which the fire of divine love burns.

For Renaissance art, nudity signified purity and innocence. Two standing next to each other female figures in medieval art - one nude, the other not - personify contrasting ideas, for example, such as Old and New Eve(New - Virgin Mary).

"Sine Baccho et Cerere fliget Venus" ("Without Bacchus and Ceres there is no heat in Venus").

This phrase by the Roman comedian Terence means that love cools down without wine and feast. This theme was especially popular in the 17th century, especially among Flemish artists, who imitated Rubens in her interpretation. Ceres approaches the relaxed Venus, offering her a cornucopia, and Bacchus with bunches of grapes and a cup of wine.

Triumph of Venus.

Venus sits solemnly in her chariot, which is driven by doves or swans. She may be accompanied by Cupid flying nearby. This topic is most often found in Italian painting XV - early XVI centuries, when in Italian cities Processions were popular, which were organized as triumphs of pagan deities.

Mythological subjects

Venus and Adonis.
Venus is on fire unrequited love to the Cypriot prince Adonis, the cause of which was a scratch from an accidental arrow of Cupid. But Adonis was killed by a boar while hunting. Venus, hearing the groans of her dying lover, descended from heaven to him in her chariot, but it was too late. The artists depict two scenes:

Adonis, with a spear in his hand and a pack of hunting dogs, leaves, while Venus tries to hold him back. But all her efforts are in vain: Cupid (in the background) slumbers under a tree, sometimes holding an extinguished torch, indicating Adonis's lack of love.

In the forest, mourning Venus bends over dead body Adonis, spilling nectar so that his blood would fertilize the earth. Cupid helps her.

Venus and rose.

The rose, a sacred flower for Venus, was originally white, but at that moment, when Venus hurried to the aid of the dying Adonis, a thorn entered her leg and drops of blood fell on the white petals, turning them red. Usually Venus is depicted sitting, she is trying to remove a splinter from her foot, and Cupid is helping her.

Birth of Venus.

According to ancient Greek mythology, Venus (Aphrodite) was born from the foam produced by the genitals of castrated Uranus, thrown into the sea by Kronos. She swims to the shore in an open shell and lands in Cyprus - one of the main places of veneration of her cult in antiquity. Venus emerging from water, depicted squeezing water out of her hair, is one of the most popular subjects in art.

She was first carried by sea waves to the shore of the island of Cythera, and then to the island of Cyprus, which became the favorite residence of this goddess. According to legend, wherever she appeared, beautiful flowers grew under her feet and all gods, people and even animals submitted to the charm of her beauty. The cult of Aphrodite, according to many academic researchers, was brought to Greece from Syria, where a similar goddess was revered under the name Astarte.

Myths ancient Greece. Aphrodite (Venus). Mistress of love desires

There are several conflicting tales about the birth of Venus. But artists, depicting this birth, always imagine her emerging from the sea foam. In ancient paintings the goddess usually lies in a simple shell. On coins she is depicted on a chariot drawn by tritons; finally, on numerous bas-reliefs the goddess appears accompanied by sea horses or sea centaurs. In the 18th century French artists, and mainly Boucher, loved to depict this poetic myth on lampshades and decorative paintings. Rubens painted the painting “Feast of Venus”, remarkable for its freshness and brilliance of colors; it is in Vienna Museum. From works newest artists Bouguereau's painting "The Birth of Venus" is very famous.

The toilet of Venus is a favorite subject for artists and poets. Ory are engaged in raising a lovely goddess, and grace(charites) are present at her toilet and help her. “She is the most beautiful of all goddesses, forever young, forever captivating, her beautiful eyes promise one bliss, she has a magic belt that contains all the spells of love, and even proud Juno, wanting to return the love of Jupiter, asks Venus to lend her this belt . Her golden jewelry burns brighter than fire, and her beautiful hair, crowned with a golden wreath, is fragrant” (Gottfried Müller). Many paintings depict the toilet of Venus and the graces serving her. All best artists Later times wrote on this topic, including Boucher, Proudhon, Rubens, Albano, Titian and many others.

When greek art moved from rough and formless primitive images of Venus to more perfect ones, it began to strive to create an ideal type in which all the charming qualities and beauty that the imagination of the Greeks, those passionate admirers of beauty, so generously endowed this goddess with would be combined and embodied. The goddess began to be depicted sitting on a throne; she is usually covered with long clothes, the folds of which, gently falling, are distinguished by their special grace. At all, hallmark All statues of Venus have precisely grace, elegance of draperies and movements. In all the works of the school of Phidias and his followers, the type of Venus expresses mainly the femininity of her nature, and the feeling of love that she should arouse is a pure and lasting feeling, which has nothing to do with sensual outbursts. And only later Attic art began to interpret and see in Venus only the personification female beauty and sensual love, and not a powerful goddess, conquering the entire universe with the power of her charm and femininity.

GODDESS VENUS

The etymology of the name Venus is unknown. There are suggestions that it comes from the Sanskrit vanas - desire or vanita - beloved, and perhaps from the Latin venia - mercy of the gods. Marcus Tulius Cicero (106–43 BC) in his treatise “On the Nature of the Gods” mentions, apparently, the then widespread interpretation of the name: “Venus - because she comes to everything (Venus, quod ad omnes veniat)” [book 3, paragraph 62].
According to the testimony of Marcus Terence Varanus (116–27 BC), the cult of Venus existed in Rome not from the founding of the state (753 BC). The first temple of Venus known to us was opened around Bolshoi Circus(Circus Maximus) in 293 BC, and, interestingly, it was built with money collected from fines imposed on noble matrons for their indecent behavior (though it’s not obvious to me personally what is hidden behind this wording ).
Apparently, the formation of the cult of Venus as the patroness, and then the ancestor of the Romans, occurred at the end of the republic.
The dictator Sulla (138 - 78 BC) considered her his patroness, called himself Epaphroditus, that is, the favorite of Aphrodite, and at the end of his life he adopted the agnomen (fourth name) Felix. Images of the Happy Venus (Venus Felix) are present in abundance on Roman coins from the times of Sulla, Caesar and the Empire.
Julius Caesar (100–44 BC) also believed that he owed his victories to the patronage of Venus. Being at the height of his glory, he introduced the veneration of Venus Genetrix, founding in 45 BC. e. temple in Rome. Caesar considered himself a direct descendant of Venus; the Julian family traced its lineage back to Iulus, the son of the legendary founder of the Roman state, the Trojan hero Aeneas, whose mother was Venus herself.

Temple of Venus the Progenitor


Reconstruction of the Temple of Venus the Progenitor in Rome

Temple of Venus the Progenitor- a temple that was once located in Caesar's Forum in Rome.
The facade of the temple was decorated with 8 columns; only three columns and a podium have survived to this day. The temple was built by Julius Caesar in 46 BC. e. in gratitude to Venus (lat. Venus Genetrix), also the goddess of the hearth and motherhood, for leading Caesar to victory at Pharsalus over Pompey. In the temple there were statues of Caesar, Cleopatra and Venus, who was considered the mother of Aeneas and the ancestor of the Julian family. The temple was later rebuilt by Domitian and restored by Trajan in 113.

Temple of the goddesses Venus and Roma


Reconstruction of the temple of the goddesses Venus and Roma

Temple of the goddesses Venus and Roma(Latin templum Venus et Roma, also called templum urbis Romae, templum urbis) - once the largest religious building of ancient Rome.
The structure occupied the entire territory from the Basilica of Maxentius to the valley of the Colosseum, and was erected on a pedestal 145 m long and 100 m wide. The temple was built under Emperor Hadrian in 135 AD, on the site where once The portico of Nero's Golden House was located.
The temple occupied the central part of the portico: it was built from two cellas, one opposite the other, with a common internal wall. The cella facing the forum was dedicated to the goddess of the city of Rome - Roma, the other was dedicated to the goddess Venus.
After the fire, Maxentius rebuilt the interior in 307 AD: two apses were carved at the rear of the cella, where statues of goddesses were placed, side walls with porphyry columns framed niches for the statues. The floor was paved with geometric mosaics of colored marble. The eastern cella is the best preserved to this day, as it was for a long time part of the church of Santa Francesca Romana.

Venus (from venia - mercy of the gods) - in its two aspects - is a symbol of heavenly and earthly love.
The personification of love and feminine beauty.
Venus is associated with both positive and negative aspects feminine- as a patroness and as a deity of hetaera.
As the personification of love, Venus embodies both spiritual love and physical attraction.

Rubens. Venus and Adonis.

The planet Venus in many mythologies acts as a symbol of the deity of love (for example, the Akkadian goddess Ishtar, the Roman goddess Venus; in one of the myths, the Sumerian goddess Inanna says about herself: “I am the star of the morning sunrise”); in the astral representations of the Sumerians and Akkadians, she occupies a special place as the “queen of heaven,” endowed with dominion over fertility and love.

In Rome, Venus was originally the goddess of fields and gardens, her identification with the Greek goddess (for which no clear justification has been found) caused the deity of love to become associated with the Great Mother, as Venus Genetria (“Generating Life”).
Venus, in Roman mythology, the goddess of gardens, beauty and love. In ancient Roman literature, the name Venus was often used as a synonym for fruit. After the widespread legend of Aeneas, Venus, revered in some cities of Italy as Frutis, was identified with Aeneas' mother Aphrodite. Now she became not only the goddess of beauty and love, but also the patroness of the descendants of Aeneas and all Romans.

The Romans' ideas about the origin of Venus are described by Cicero:
“Venus was the first born of the goddess Day from Heaven. We saw her temple in Elis. The second was born from sea foam, and from it and Mercury, they say, Cupid the second was born. The third, born of Jupiter and Dione, married Vulcan. But from her and Mars, they say, Anteros was born. The fourth was conceived by Syria from Cyprus and is called Astarte. She was the wife of Adonis."
Cicero “On the Nature of the Gods”, book 3, paragraph 59.

Like all major deities, Venus has many epithets, some of them repeat the epithets of Aphrodite, some are related to geography or the dedication of the temple. In addition to the already mentioned Happy Venus (Venus Felix) and Venus Genetrix, I will give three more.
Venus the Purifier(Venus Cloacina) - dedicated to the reconciliation of the Romans and Sabines. According to legend, the Romans kidnapped the Sabine women during one of the festivals in order to take them as wives. The Sabines started the war, but the women, already attached to their Roman husbands, achieved reconciliation between the parties.
Venus Bald(Venus Calva). The most common explanation: the epithet appeared in memory of the Roman women who donated their hair to make bow strings and ropes for catapults during the siege of Rome.
Venus the Victorious(Venus Victrix) - an analogue of the armed Aphrodite, a cult formed by the Greeks under the influence of eastern cultures, where the goddess Ishtar was also the goddess of war. Sulla and Caesar believed that it was Venus that brought them victory. In neoclassical art, this epithet is often used to mean “Venus, the conqueror of human hearts,” for example, Antonio Canova’s sculpture Venus Victrix (portrait of Pauline Bonaparte).

Due to the prevalence of the cult of Venus in the Roman state, many Roman statues of the goddess have come down to us, many of which are generally believed to be repeated in general outline sculpture of Aphrodite of Cnidus by Praxiteles.
During the Renaissance, the image of Venus again became extremely popular, this is explained by the fact that Venus represented a classical subject for which nudity was a natural state. Over time, Venus became a common name for any artistic image naked woman.
Venus is the mother of Cupid and love passion.
Venus is depicted as a beautiful young woman wearing a wreath and holding flowers.

The name of the Scythian "Aphrodite Urania" (heavenly goddess of love) should be read as ARTIMPASA. With this reading, the root “art” appears in it, “artem” - the same as in the name greek goddess ARTEMIS. But... Artemis isn't Aphrodite, is she?

Was Herodotus really scared? Nothing of the kind. It’s just that in ancient times the Greeks had already forgotten that Aphrodite was once... also Artemis!

The fact is that in some Indo-European languages there is an alternation of the type “slave - arb” (cf. “work” and “arbeit”), “rod...

Diana was the patron goddess of animals, flowering fields, green groves and forests, where she sometimes hunted. She was especially revered by rural residents, for whom she made hard work easier and helped in healing diseases of people and animals.

King Servius Tullius erected the first temple of Diana on the Aventine Hill in Rome, and since this hill was inhabited by people of average income or simply the poor, she became the patroness of the lower classes (plebeians and slaves). At the same time, she was revered as a goddess...

Aphrodite (“foam-born”), in Greek mythology, the goddess of beauty and love that permeates the whole world. According to one version, the goddess was born from the blood of Uranus, castrated by the titan Kronos: the blood fell into the sea, forming foam (in Greek - aphros).

Aphrodite was not only the patroness of love, as reported by the author of the poem “On the Nature of Things,” Titus Lucretius Carus, but also the goddess of fertility, eternal spring and life. According to legend, she usually appeared surrounded by her usual companions - nymphs, ors and harites. IN...

Navratri holiday.

The Divine Mother is worshiped during the nine and nights of Navratri. She is worshiped in three forms - as Durga, as Lakshmi and as Saraswati.

During the first three days of Navratri, the emphasis is on removing the grosser, superficial obstacles with the help of Goddess Durga.

The human heart is polluted by anger, greed, hatred, passion, pride, jealousy. This must be cleansed first of all. It is Durga, sitting on the tiger, who enters the heart of a person and destroys...

Yanzhima is the goddess of arts, sciences, crafts, wisdom and prosperity. It is associated with purity, innocence and the creation of new things.

The Indian name of the goddess Yanzhima is Saraswati. In ancient times, the Saraswati River was revered in India.

The bright river Saraswati, flowing from mountain peaks, has long given clarity to people’s feelings and thoughts. And on its banks many found refuge for quiet reflection and offering prayers. Later she ascended to heaven, taking the form of the eternally young goddess Saraswati. On...

The first mentions of eshata pragmata (“last things”) can be found already in Zosimus of Panopolitan (IV century) and Pseudo-Democritus (VI century) (It was about him that Thomas Mann wrote in “The Magic Mountain” that “it began with him”) the invasion of irrational fermentative material into the world of rationally useful ideas for the improvement of humanity").

And, if the first speaks about this in passing (“...the last things appear at the end of time,” then the second discusses this more extensively in his treatise “Imut”: “Time is not a thing...

Indian mythology describes a time when evil forces fought with the good ones, and these battles took place quite actively, i.e. with thousands of victims, victims on both sides. The book “Devi Mahatmya” tells about this.

This treatise describes the Goddess (Devi). The Goddess in Hinduism is Shakti, the Power and Desire of God Almighty. It is She, according to Hinduism, who destroys all evil in the world. She is called differently, reflecting Her versatility - Mahamaya, Kali, Durga, Devi, Lolita...

Durga (“hard-to-reach”), in Hindu mythology, one of the formidable incarnations of Devi or Parvati, the wife of Shiva, who acted as a warrior goddess, protector of the gods and world order from demons. One of her main feats was the destruction of the buffalo demon Mahisha, who expelled the gods from heaven to earth, in a bloody duel.

The goddess was usually depicted with ten arms, seated on a lion or tiger, with weapons and attributes of different gods: with the trident of Shiva, the disc of Vishnu, the bow of Vayu, the spear of Agni, the club of Indra...

They found a rooster, whose crowing heralds the dawn, and made a mirror decorated with precious stones.

At their request, the goddess Ame no Uzume danced on an inverted vat, and it resembled...

Venus - the goddess - was revered as the benefactor of a happy married life, as the deity of women. She was the patroness of gardens and the flowering of all the fruit-bearing forces of nature. According to legend, the goddess Venus was the mother of the hero of Troy, Aeneas, whose descendants became the founders of Rome. Therefore, in Rome there were a large number of altars and sanctuaries of the goddess.

Early Venus

The image of the goddess Venus in ancient myths far from romanticism. If you believe one of the early versions of her origin, then the goddess emerged from the foam of the sea, which was formed from the blood of castrated Uranus. In this myth, Venus - the goddess - was more the patroness of spring and life, and not the goddess of love. Early sculptures portray not capricious beautiful woman, but a strong and powerful goddess, in whose hands are the attributes of a hetaera: a bouquet of flowers and a mirror. And the most important difference is that in the early images, Venus is dressed, only one shoulder is bare.

History of Venus de Milo

The image of Venus, and love, personifies many sculptures and statues, but the image embodied in them is strikingly different. exhibited in the Louvre, in the department of ancient art, is considered the most famous image of the great goddess.

This statue was discovered in 1820 by a Greek peasant on the island of Milos. He wanted to sell his find as profitably as possible and hid it in a paddock. There she was discovered by French officer Dumont D'Urville. The officer was educated enough to understand what a masterpiece this statue of beauty and love was. It is believed that this Venus - the goddess - was holding in her hand an apple that Paris handed to her.

The peasant asked for a huge amount of money for the antique statue, which the Frenchman did not have. While the officer was negotiating with the museum in France, the peasant had already managed to sell the statue of the goddess to an official from Turkey.

The officer tried to steal the statue, but the Turks quickly discovered it was missing. A fight ensued over a priceless sculpture. During the battle, the hands of the goddess were lost, which have not been found to this day.

But even without arms and with gaps, Venus - the goddess - enchants with her beauty and perfection. Looking at her correct proportions, on a flexibly curved body, you simply don’t notice these flaws. This antique sculpture For almost two centuries she has been conquering the world with her femininity and beauty.

Speculations regarding the placement of the goddess's hands

There is an assumption that the goddess Venus was holding an apple in her hands. But then how were her hands positioned? But this assumption was later rejected by the French scientist Reinac, which aroused even greater interest in the ancient statue. It is believed that the statue of Venus is only one of several sculptural compositions. Many researchers supported this assumption, believing that Venus was depicted together with the war. In the 19th century, they tried to restore the statue of the goddess and even wanted to attach wings to it.

Now the goddess, surrounded by legends, is in the Louvre in a small room in the hall of ancient arts. The exhibits in this department are not located in the middle of the hall, so the low sculpture of Venus is visible from afar. If you come closer to her, it seems that the rough surface of the goddess is alive and warm.