I first heard of Tintoretto- painter of Renaissance (born 1518 in Venice) from Satyajit Ray’s thriller story Tintorettor Jishu (“Jesus painting by Tintoretto”- a film was later made by his son Sandip Ray). Later, as I looked into some of the Classical paintings I found Tintoretto stands apart for reason which is indeed.. Well, should I say,.. ‘interesting’
Usually whenever we think of Classical paintings, especially of the Renaissance period we never consider them to be funny. We consider them to be extremely elegant, emphatic, exquisite and often elitist. But look at this painting carefully. This is, perhaps, one of the most funny paintings- despite all its other Classical qualities- of the Renaissance period.
This painting is known/ titled as Tintoretto’s –Venus, Mars, and Vulcan.
Now, we know who Venus- also known as Aphrodite in Greek- is. We also know who is Mars, the Helmeted God of War, and a hero (from his name we got Martial).
Vulcan is Venus’ husband.
One of Vulcan’s legs was broken when his mother Juno found him ‘ugly’ and threw him into the sea. Later Vulcan grew as the Gods’ main blacksmith and artisan of great knowledge.. sort of our own Viswakarma. (His father was Jupiter)
And Venus, in our present moral standard, was not very dignified. Her immoral or in clear terms ‘extra marital” acts were vividly depicted in many paintings. One of her paramours was Mars who used to visit her, sleep with her and would vanish before her husband –the great angry hammer-man Vulcan arrived.
Here look at the painting closely. Vulcan arrived, he was suspecting his wife was having an affair with Mars. He was searching for Mars and even pulled up the bedcover (you may see the quilt). And where was Mars ?
Lo !! the great God of War, Mighty Mars, was hiding under the table…infact trying to crawl out and escape. (Very unbecoming of a Hero and a warrior God)…. But the problem was the DOG… Vulcan’s Dog was barking at him and well, giving away Mar’s presence in an unheroic place. Look at the Cupid.. he seemed like enjoying the scene ( though as mischievous as he is..he kept his eyes closed..after all he was the character who played the key in extra marital love-affair)..This is an extremely comic scene … but…common in all ages..
(You may see the other painting with humour by no other than Botticelli ( just Google image Venus+Mars+Botticelli) ..you will see how Mars is sleeping after his affair with Venus ..and four baby satyrs fleeing with his spear )…
Some points I would like to mention ….
Venus was painted by many —–Titian, Natoire, Botticelli et al. Venus was identified with the presence of among others, Cupid (there were often two Cupids- angel babies- Eros and his brother Anteros) and three companions- Aglaia, Euphrosyne, and Thalia.
Titian also painted Venus with a dog and in the painting he depicted the dog as the worst of watch dogs…The Dog was sleeping while the sky was falling and there were chaos all around..In fact, somehwhere I had read that Tintoretto painted the Venus and Vulcan paiting to mock the Titian’s sleeping dog only. And, yes, Vulcan was given beard as Titian also sported beard. Titian was Tintoretto’s teacher also. I have given the pic of the painting of Titian’s.
Tintoretto’s original name was Jacopo Comin..or Jacopo Rubusti… He was a very witty and a man of pleasnt personality but he was never seen smiling ..smile emoticon ..he was called Tintorertti because it means ….he was son of a dyer…Tintore… He was also a student of great Titian…
From Vulcan’s name we got the name Volcano.
By the way, to understand as to how much detailed and careful were the old masters, look at the left leg of vulcan , and youn immediately know he had a problem with the leg… also just look at the glass pot by the window.
BY THE B**LS
..And you thought those WWF characters are funny… This one is Hercules and Diomedes in Italy’s Florence Town hall named — Hall of the Five Hundred…located in the Palazzo Vecchio……The sculptor was Vincenzo dei Rossi, a follower of Michelangelo…This was created in 16th century…(1560 ??)….and, well, it makes one more time clear that those Renaissance great minds and geniuses were not bereft of humor and wits… often very sarcastic and , like this one below belt hitting…
If you remember my previous post — Tintoretto’s painting..Vulcan storming into his wife Venus’ bed room and throwing away the ‘bed cover’ in an angry attempt to catch War God Mars. Mars was on his adulterous liaison with Venus and the blacksmith Vulcan was damn angry and that sent all powerful Mars hiding beneath the cot…
Interesting to note that here Diomedes was a King and when in wrestling with Hercules he tried to save him from being thrown out ( ..dead and to his own man-eating horses?) by taking mighty Hercules by the b*lls…It was , btw, Hercules’ 8th labor…
( Of course, we got the expression Cleaning the Augean Stable from Hercules’ 5th labor I am, however, not sure whether we get the slang… by the b*lls, from here only or not…it sounds quite likely, though