Omnia Vincit Amor, or The Power of Love in the Three Elements

Benjamin West

1809 · Oil on canvas · The American Wing

"Omnia vincit Amor," (Love triumphs over everything) is a quotation from Virgil’s Eclogues. Venus, the goddess of love, is shown at the left with her attributes the doves and with her small son, Amor, armed with bow and arrows, clinging to her draperies. A young deity, presumably Hymen, god of marriage, brandishes a flaming torch with his right hand and grasps in his left cords that leash an eagle. The eagle symbolizes all the creatures living in the element Air, a hippocampus stands for those of the Water, and a lion for those on Earth. The fourth element, Fire, is implicit in the goddess herself, in the winged Amores, or little Loves, and most particularly in Hymen’s flaming torch.

Artist

Benjamin West

Date

1809

Medium

Oil on canvas

Culture

American

Department

The American Wing

Credit line

Maria DeWitt Jesup Fund, 1923