How you can use this image
This image is available to be shared and re-used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives licence (CC BY-NC-ND).
You can reproduce this image for non-commercial purposes and you are not able to change or modify it in any way.
Wherever you reproduce the image you must attribute the original creators (acknowledge the original artist(s) and the person/organisation that took the photograph of the work) and any other rights holders.
Review our guidance pages which explain how you can reuse images, how to credit an image and how to find more images in the public domain or with a Creative Commons licence available.
DownloadNotes
Add or edit a note on this artwork that only you can see. You can find notes again by going to the ‘Notes’ section of your account.
This complex allegorical subject shows a chariot, symbolic of the human soul, being driven by Venus (spiritual love or the intellect), while the bound figure of Cupid represents earthly love. Venus purifies earthly love in the fire of celestial love, and sits ready to complete the purification with a cleansing vessel in her lap. The urn on which she sits contains and thus controls the passions and the vices, while the soul’s baser animal instincts, represented by the rearing horses, are kept in check by her servants. The present work has been linked to a panel depicting an interior with a stabbed woman on the left and a landscape on the right (now cut; formerly Rome, Fabbri collection) and another showing the 'Rape of Lucretia' (Castiglioni sale, Vienna, 28–29 November 1930).
Title
An Allegory of Love
Date
c.1490–1495
Medium
oil on pearwood panel
Measurements
H 61.9 x W 77.5 cm
Accession number
P556
Acquisition method
acquired by Sir Richard Wallace, 1872; bequeathed to the nation by Lady Wallace, 1897
Work type
Painting
