Unchanged by any teller — how the centuries since have seen Apate.
The gallery
Venus, Cupid, Folly and Time — Deceit lurks behind the pleasures
Bronzino, c. 1545
A Mannerist allegorical oil painting in which Venus and Cupid embrace amid personifications of Folly and Time. Behind the pleasures lurks a girl usually identified as Deceit, offering a honeycomb while concealing a serpent's body and sting — an emblem of love's hidden falsehoods. The painting hangs in the National Gallery, London.