Venus Blindfolding Cupid Titian (Tiziano Vecellio) (1480/85-1576)

Description of Titian’s painting Venus Tying Cupid’s Eyes

During some of his later periods, the artist Titian, who lived from about 1488 to 1576, was literally obsessed. His main obsession was to create paintings that were full of drama. And, in the artist’s own opinion, Christian subjects were the best suited for this purpose. At the same time, he was still attracted to antiquity in any, even the most vivid and audacious manifestations.

In his character and paintings, the artist wholeheartedly shared and upheld the belief and conviction of the Neoplatonists that the best, purest and pristine beauty will always be and exalt man. This means that for the artist, beauty always had a religious meaning.

That is why the painting and the Venus on it, who blindfolds Cupid, is not a mere play or interpretation of the author’s fantasies on a mythological theme. The picture is known throughout the world under several titles.

Venus is blindfolding Cupid, and the nymph standing nearby is giving Cupid a bow. This was a hint to him to let out his arrows further at random rather than at his own discretion.

Above all in this picture the girls attract attention. They are beautiful, charming, and in their own way inaccessible to either humans or Cupid himself. They have classic facial features, bright golden skin, and in every curve of their bodies you can see soft gestures. Rounding out their beauty is their silky hair.

Venus, who laces her eyes, is full of the dignity and serenity that is inherent in her. And the warmth that exudes from her body and tranquility is further emphasized by the fact that Cupid has his shoulder tucked into her. This gesture of Cupid is compared by many to the gesture of an infant snuggling up to its mother. Therefore, the beauty of the painting acquires a life-giving, maternal beginning. Therefore, from the outside, some time after viewing, it seems that this painting breathes and fills everything around it with love.