Venus, Vulcan and Mars
Tintoretto, 1551
For now, just to look at
The photograph we have of this work is not sharp enough to print at the quality we want, so we are not selling it for now. We are looking for a better one.
About the work
- Artist
- Tintoretto
- Date
- 1551
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- 135 × 198 cm
- Collection
- Alte Pinakothek, Munich (Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen)
- Reference
- XDV-4164
What the museum label doesn't tell you
Look at the convex mirror in the background: a standing figure, reflected, watching the scene. That's not decoration, it's precise geometric calculation, and it explains something unusual for Tintoretto. A preparatory drawing for this exact composition survives in Berlin, nearly unique in his output: he typically attacked the canvas directly, no sketches. Not here. The mirror's perspective demanded planning beforehand, and that drawing is the proof. The painting feels like a study for exactly this reason: someone solving an optical problem before touching the body. What other detail here gives away that groundwork?
