Jupiter's love for Juno rekindled when she puts on Venus's Girdle

Art Historical Context

This engraving by Giulio Bonasone, created in 1546, captures a lively moment from classical mythology in which Juno rekindles Jupiter’s affection by donning Venus’s magical girdle. The scene draws on ancient tales of love and divine intrigue, showing the powerful couple in an intimate exchange while Venus’s enchanted belt works its irresistible charm. Rendered in fine engraved lines, the print conveys both tenderness and drama through delicate shading and expressive figures. As a reproductive medium popular during the Renaissance, engraving allowed artists like Bonasone to share mythological narratives with a wider audience beyond the walls of palaces and churches. Measuring just over seven by ten inches, this intimate sheet would have been collected and studied by scholars and art lovers, helping spread interest in ancient stories across Europe. Today the work resides in the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s collection of prints, where it continues to illustrate how sixteenth-century artists blended classical themes with the precision of the engraver’s burin.

About the Artist

Giulio Bonasone · 1500–1600

Comment on works: History; Mythology