Venus Whipping Cupid with Roses

Giovanni Luigi Valesio

early 17th century · Engraving · Drawings and Prints

In this print Venus's halfhearted efforts at disciplining her unruly son are undermined by a smiling satyr, the embodiment of lust. As the inscription states, love is not so easily chastised. Valesio, a poet as well as a prolific engraver who specialized in creating allegorical title pages, designed this work as one of a pair of love allegories.

Artist

Giovanni Luigi Valesio

Date

early 17th century

Medium

Engraving

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Purchase, Joseph Pulitzer Bequest, 1917