Sandro Botticelli was known for painting religious and mythological subject matter and received numerous commissions throughout his art career and had connections with the Medici family.
The more popular theory about why it was painted is that it could have been made for a wedding and as a spalliera, which refers to a type of headboard or panel placed behind a bed.
One of the most notable symbolic meanings inherent in the Venus and Mars painting is the widely proposed idea that “love conquers war”. This is evident in how Venus is awake, and the god Mars is asleep.
The Mars and Venus painting depicts the goddess of love, Venus, to the left, and the god of war, Mars, to the right. They are both restful and in repose on a pink blanket on a patch of green grass.
The color scheme in Venus and Mars by Sandro Botticelli consists of light hues like whites, pinks, greens, browns, and bronzy golds without any stark contrasts.
There are implied textures, for example, the diaphanous surface quality of Venus’ dress and its many folds in the foreground suggesting lightness, the smooth skin of all the figures, and the fine slivers of grass in the foreground, among others.
Sandro Botticelli‘s artwork is characterized by his utilization of outlines or otherwise known as “contour lines”, which are noticeable around Mars’ right hand and Venus’ left hand.
The shapes and forms in Venus and Mars by Sandro Botticelli are natural and organic, in other words, they follow the forms of nature, although the proportion of Venus and Mars’ figures do not echo exact proportions in real life.
The figures of Venus and Mars are placed directly in the foreground of Venus and Mars by Sandro Botticelli as if we (the viewers) can touch them or become part of the scene.