The Planet Venus

This is one of Disertori's most elaborate compositions, in an excellent proof impression prior to the completion of the inscription in the lower margin. It is one of three planet subjects, the others being Mars and Mercury, all with the same approximate composition. This is, however, the most engaging, with its view of S. Gimignano in the midst of an intramural war. The towers of the medieval city were supposed to have been constructed as acts of rivalry among its wealthy resident families, but the idea of siege engines, flaming barrages from catapults, and executed traitors seems to have been Disertori's fantasy. Were hostilities provoked by rape, adultery, and other acts of illicit love, sparked by the planetary goddess above?