Venus and Mars. Workshop of Antonio Canova

This sculpture represents the gods Venus and Mars.

The 2 figures are naked, but a cloth covers the legs of Venus.

Mars has a spear and a helmet.

The 2 figures hug and look at each other with passion.

The sculpture is made of Carrara marble.

Carrara is a town in Italy famous for its marble.

This marble is of excellent quality.

Venus and Mars are gods from the mythology of Greece and Rome.

Mythology is the collection of stories about the gods, heroes and traditions specific to nations or cultures.

Venus is the goddess of love and peace and represents tenderness.

Mars is the god of war and represents strength.

Venus was married to Vulcan but loved Mars.

In the sculpture, Venus looks at Mars with admiration and tries to prevent him from going to war.

The author created the sculpture with great attention to detail to make it ​​look realistic.

For example, we can see the details of the curls of hair of the 2 gods and the cloth covering the legs of the goddess.

Many people believed that the author of this sculpture was the Italian sculptor Antonio Canova.

But 50 years ago, experts realised that this sculpture was a copy of another sculpture made by Antonio Canova for King George the Fourth of England.

The original Canova sculpture is in Buckingham Palace in London.

Experts believe that Antonio Canova did not create the sculpture displayed in the Prado Museum.

This sculpture was probably created by another sculptor from the workshop of Canova.

The artist used the sculpture of Canova as a model for creating this version between 1820 and 1830.

There are only minor differences between the original sculpture and this one.

The Marquis of Salamanca offered this work to the Prado Museum together with other sculptures by Italian artists.