Why it matters
Venus crouches with Cupid and his arrows before her. The title comes from the Roman playwright Terence: 'without Ceres and Bacchus, Venus freezes': love cannot survive without food and wine.
Did you know?
- It is dated 1614 and is one of the few works Rubens both signed and dated.
- The crouching pose comes from an ancient statue now called the Lely Venus, which Rubens saw in Mantua.
- It is in the Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Antwerp.
Based on the Wikipedia article Venus Frigida (CC BY-SA 4.0).
