William Etty (British, 1787-1849)

Dennis Farr (op. cit.) lists two other versions of this composition, both on panel. The first was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1835 and was subsequently recorded in the collection of Anthony Devas. The second is in the collection of the City Art Gallery, York.

Farr describes the figures in the R.A. version as falling into a 'smooth elliptical composition, with those of Mars and a Raphaelesque Homeric musician acting as repoussoirs ... the arms and bodies of the figures form a sinewy internal pattern, rather more complex than before ... Blond in tone, the painting is suffused with light, and the white-clad Venus acts as a focal point around which the darker colours of her attendants' robes are assembled. The woman holding Mars's sheild has an amethyst robe, while the three Graces form a pattern of yellow, pink and ultramarine; the musician's brown mantle balances the more sombre tones of Mars's armour' (loc. cit. pp. 73-4).