Venus and Cupid, Bronzino

Commissioned by Cosimo de Medici, Bronzino's painting of Venus, Cupid, Folly and Time is a great example of a piece that displays different genders, ages, and forms of bodies. Venus is a voluptuous woman, youthful and beautiful. Folly to her right is clearly a playful little boy, his body dictating the same characterization as his impending action. Cupid, Venus's son, however, tests the viewers' traditional conventions. His head and face is truly that of a boy, but his elongated body does not leave one with the same understanding as him as a child as we get with Folly. That and the fact that he's fondling his mother's breast...  Some expression of passionate love that could normally be pleasing or meaningful is turned uncomfortable and slightly disgusting once put into the context of incest.