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| Titian Venus Rising from the Sea (Venus Anadyomene) ca. 1520 oil on canvas National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh |
AN HYMN TO VENUS
O Venus, Beauty of the Skies,
To whom a thousand Temples rise,
Gayly false in gentle Smiles,
Full of Love-perplexing Wiles;
O Goddess! from my Heart remove
The wasting Cares and Pains of Love.
If ever thou hast kindly heard
A Song in soft Distress preferr'd,
Propitious to my tuneful Vow,
O gentle Goddess! hear me now.
Descend, thou bright, immortal Guest,
In all thy radiant Charms confest.
Thou once didst leave Almighty Jove,
And all the Golden Roofs above:
The Carr thy wanton sparrows drew;
Hov'ring in Air they lightly flew,
As to my Bow'r they wing'd their Way:
I saw their quiv'ring Pinions play.
The Birds dismist (while you remain)
Bore back their empty Carr again:
Then You, with Looks divinely mild,
In ev'ry heav'nly Feature smil'd,
And ask'd, what new Complaints I made
And why I call'd you to my Aid?
What Phrenzy in my Bosom rag'd
And by what Cure to be asswag'd?
What gentle Youth I would allure,
Whom in my artful Toiles secure?
Who does thy tender Heart subdue,
Tell me, my Sappho, tell me Who?
Tho' now he Shuns they longing Arms,
He soon shall court thy slighted Charms;
Tho' now thy Off'rings he despise,
He soon to Thee shall Sacrifice;
Tho' now he freeze, he soon shall burn,
And be thy Victim in his turn.
Celestial Visitant, once more
Thy needful Presence I implore!
In Pity come and ease my Grief,
Bring my distemper'd Soul Relief;
Favour thy Suppliant's hidden Fires,
And give me All my Heart desires.
– Ambrose Philips (1711) after Sappho
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| Frans Floris Venus and Cupid before 1570 oil on panel Hallwyl Museum, Stockholm |
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| Titian Venus with a Mirror ca. 1555 canvas National Gallery of Art, Washington DC |
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| Paolo Veronese Mars and Venus ca. 1580 oil on canvas National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh |
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| Giovanni Battista Paggi Venus and Cupid ca. 1580 oil on canvas Dulwich Picture Gallery, London |
THE WOUNDED CUPID
Cupid as he lay among
Roses, by a bee was stung.
Whereupon in anger flying
To his Mother, said thus crying:
Help! O help! your Boy's a dying.
And why, my pretty Lad, said she?
Then blubbering, replyed he,
A winged Snake has bitten me,
Which Country people call a Bee.
At which she smil'd; then with her hairs
And kisses drying up his tears:
Alas! said she, my Wag! if this
Such a pernicious torment is:
Come, tell me then, how great's the smart
Of those, thou woundest with thy Dart!
– Robert Herrick (1648) after Anacreon
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| Peter Paul Rubens Venus and Adonis ca. 1610 oil on canvas Museum Kunstpalast, Düsseldorf |
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| Nicolas Poussin Venus and Mercury ca. 1627-29 oil on canvas Dulwich Picture Gallery, London |
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| Jan van Bijlert Venus chastising Cupid 1628 oil on canvas Museum of Fine Arts, Houston |
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| Abraham Bloemaert Venus and Adonis 1632 oil on canvas Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen |
from THE LAMENTATION FOR ADONIS
I mourn Adonis, the sad Loves bemoan
The comely fair Adonis dead and gone.
Deep in his Thigh, deep went the killing smart,
But deeper far it goes in Venus heart:
His faithful Dogs about the Mountains yell,
And the hard fate of their dear master tell:
The troubled Nymphs alike in doleful strains
Proclaim his death through all the Fields and Plains:
But the sad Goddess, most of all forlorn,
With love distracted, and with sorrow torn,
Wild in her look, and rueful in her air,
With garments rent, and with dishevel'd hair,
Through Brakes, through Thickets, and through pathless ways,
Through Woods, through Haunts, and Dens of Savages,
Undrest, unshod, careless of Honor, Fame,
And Danger, flies, and calls on his lov'd name.
– John Oldham (1681) after Bion
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| Peter Paul Rubens Venus, Mars and Cupid ca. 1630-35 oil on canvas Dulwich Picture Gallery, London |
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| Luca Ferrari Venus preventing her son Aeneas from killing Helen of Troy ca. 1650 oil on canvas Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide |
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| Anonymous Roman painter Venus gathering Apples 17th century oil on canvas Dulwich Picture Gallery, London |
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| Louis-Michel Van Loo Venus, Mercury and Cupid 1748 oil on canvas Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, Madrid |
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| Angelica Kauffmann Venus induces Helen to fall in love with Paris 1790 canvas Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |
from SAPPHICS
All the night sleep came not upon my eyelids,
Shed not dew, nor shook nor unclosed a feather,
Yet with lips shut close and with eyes of iron
Stood and beheld me.
Then to me so lying awake a vision
Came without sleep over the seas and touched me,
Softly touched mine eyelids and lips; and I too,
Full of the vision,
Saw the white implacable Aphrodite,
Saw the hair unbound and the feet unsandalled
Shine as fire of sunset on western waters;
Saw the reluctant
Feet, the straining plumes of the doves that drew her,
Looking always, looking with necks reverted,
Back to Lesbos, back to the hills whereunder
Shone Mitylene;
Heard the flying feet of the Loves behind her
Make a sudden thunder upon the waters,
As the thunder flung from the strong unclosing
Wings of a great wind.
So the goddess fled from her place, with awful
Sound of feet and thunder of wings around her;
While behind a clamour of singing women
Severed the twilight.
– Algernon Charles Swinburne (1866) after Sappho