National Treasures
Botticelli's 'Venus and Mars'
At the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge
Until 10 September 2024
The Fitzwilliam Museum
The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, is the lead partner of the spectacular collections of the University of Cambridge Museums (UCM) and Botanic Garden.
From antiquity to the present day, the Fitzwilliam houses a world-renowned collection of over half a million beautiful works of art, masterpiece paintings, and historical artefacts.
Botticelli, 'Venus and Mars'
Sandro Botticelli’s Venus and Mars is the highlight of National Treasures: Botticelli in Cambridge, exploring ideas of sex and power, gender and the body through classical mythology and Italian art of the 1400s and 1500s.
The exhibition brings together a selection of Renaissance works from the Fitzwilliam’s collection alongside the Italian artist’s iconic painting of lovers — Venus, the goddess of love and Mars, the god of war.
The arrival of ‘Venus and Mars’ in Cambridge presents a rare opportunity to see the work outside of London. Until now, the painting has never left its home at the National Gallery, where it’s been a popular and well-loved work since it was bought in 1874.
