History Art / VenusCupidFollyAndTime

* PsychosexualHorror: While it seemingly appears as just an erotic painting, researchers in 2015 discovered that the painting was used to depict syphilis, a sexually transmitted disease that was running rampant during their time period.

* KarmicSTD: The elderly hag on the left side of the painting is commonly viewed as having all of the symptoms of syphilis, implying it to be a consequence of Venus and Cupid's sexual proclivities.

Fans of British television will also recognize the painting as the source of Creator/MontyPython's iconic GiantFootOfStomping, debuting in the title sequence of ''Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus'' and becoming an emblem of the troupe in the ensuing decades. The foot specifically belongs to Cupid, and can be seen in the lower-left corner of the painting.

!!''Venus, Cupid, Folly and Time'' provides examples of:
* AllegoricalCharacter: Every character in the painting is an AnthropomorphicPersonification of a specific abstract concept, though which concepts they each represent tends to depend on the scholar making these analysis.

** The old woman rending her hair in the far-left has been called Jealousy - though some believe her to represent the ravaging effects of syphilis.

* ArtisticLicenseAnatomy: The way Cupid's back bends is borderline painful to look at. Considering the Mannerist movement is known for depicting human figures with ''figurative serpentinata'', or "serpentine figure", to give it an otherworldly quality, this was likely deliberate.
* LoveGoddess: Both Venus and Cupid are depicted in the fore-front giving a flirtatious kiss in witness to the other characters. Considering the personification of folly is about to shower the two in rose petals, this is likely a bad move, especially considering both Venus and Cupid are infamous for their tendency to cause problems.
* KarmicSTD: The elderly hag in the left side of the painting is commonly viewed as having all of the symptoms of syphilis, implying it to be a consequence of Venus and Cupid's sexual proclivities.

''Venus, Cupid, Folly and Time'' (also called ''An Allegory of Venus and Cupid'' and ''A Triumph of Venus'') is an allegorical painting of about 1545 by the Florentine painter Agnolo Bronzino.

* ArtisticLicenseBiology: The way Cupid's back bends is borderline painful to look at. Considering the Mannerist movement is known for depicting human figures with ''figurative serpentinata'', or "serpentine figure", to give it an otherworldly quality, this was likely deliberate.

* IncestIsRelative: Cupid is one of Venus' many illegitimately born children and we can plainly see that the two of them are in the middle of sexual relations with one another. Incest isn't necessarily out of place among [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Classical gods]], so seeing two gods of sexuality committing incest isn't out of place either.

Fans of British television will also recognize the painting as the source of the iconic Creator/MontyPython foot, debuting in the title sequence of ''Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus'' and becoming an emblem of the troupe in the ensuing decades. The foot specifically belongs to Cupid, and can be seen in the lower-left corner of the painting.

Fans of British television will also recognize the painting as the source of the iconic Creator/MontyPython foot, debuting in the title sequence of ''Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus'' and becoming an emblem of the band in the ensuing decades. The foot specifically belongs to Cupid, and can be seen in the lower-left corner of the painting.

* ArtMajorBiology: The way Cupid's back bends is borderline painful to look at. Considering the Mannerist movement is known for depicting human figures with ''figurative serpentinata'', or "serpentine figure", to give it an otherworldly quality, this was likely deliberate.

** The putto showering them with flowers is Folly.

* {{Putto}}: A toddler is meant to represent "Folly", or foolishness, giving his "blessing" to Cupid and Venus by showerign them with petals.

* CherubicChoir: A less Heavenly example is a putto (a figure in a work of art depicted as a chubby male child, usually naked and sometimes winged) that is meant to represent "Folly", or foolishness, giving his "blessing" to Cupid and Venus by showerign them with petals.

* IncestIsRelative: Cupid is one of Venus' many illegitimately born children and we can plainly see that the two of them are in the middle of sexual relations with one another. Incest isn't necessarily out of place among [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Classical gods]], so seeing two gods of sexuality committing incest isn't out of place.

The painting has come to be known as Venus, Cupid, Folly and Time, and it is generally agreed that these are the principal figures (with "Folly" representing this or the personification of a similar concept). Cupid and Venus kiss in the foreground, while the putto Folly prepares to shower them with rose petals. The bald Time, at the top, looks on and holds a cloth. The meaning of the other three figures and the interactions between them all is much less certain. The painting displays the ambivalence, eroticism, and obscure imagery that are characteristic of the Mannerist period, and of Bronzino's master Pontormo.

* IncestIsRelative: Cupid is one of Venus' many illegitimately born children and we can plainly see that the two of them are in the middle of sexual relations with one another. Incest isn't necessarily out of place among Classical gods, so seeing two gods of sexuality committing incest isn't out of place.

* LoveGoddess: Both Venus are depicted in the fore-front giving a flirtatious kiss in witness to the other characters. Considering the personification of folly is about to shower the two in rose petals, this is likely a bad move, especially considering both Venus and Cupid are infamous for their tendency to cause problems.