Parnassus, Mars and Venus by Andrea Mantegna Tea Towel

Parnassus Mars and Venus (c. 1496-1497) by Andrea Mantegna (1431-1506) is a vintage Renaissance Era fine art mythological painting. Mars (the Roman God of war or Ares the Greek God of war) and Venus (the Roman Goddess of love or Aphrodite the Greek Goddess of love) standing at the top of an arch resembling an arch of triumph. Their son Anteros stands next to Mars aiming a blowpipe at Vulcan (Venus’s husband, aka Hephaistos in Greek mythology) who has his ironworks inside the cave. There are nine Muses singing and dancing around Apollo who is playing his lyre. Hermes is holding a caduceus and is standing next to Pegasus the winged horse. Mars and Venus are watching the dance from above. The scene is on Mount Parnassus, the place of the Delphic Oracle, the centre of the Greek World.