Cleveland Museum of Art

Mars, Minerva, Venus, and Cupid

Valerio Belli

Date

early 1500s

Medium

rock crystal intaglio, gilded from reverse with gold and silver, backed with lapis lazuli, mounted in a gold pendant

Culture

Italy, 16th century

Department

European Painting and Sculpture

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

Mars, the god of war, chooses Minerva over Venus, goddesses representing Virtue and Vice. The subject was common in antiquity, although the male figure traditionally represents Hercules. The snake passing from Minerva to Mars lionizes wisdom, perhaps indicating that the patron, who has yet to be identified, connected the idea of a difficult choice to a specific military or political problem. Lapis lazuli, the stone used in this pendant, was first mined in Afghanistan 9000 years ago.

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