3-043-091 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Venus Kindling a Fire in the Castle from which the Personifications of Shame, Anxiety, and Resistance Depart; Roman de la Rose, about 1405. Additional Info: This last miniature of the Romance of the Rose shows the final battle for the tower where the rose is kept under guard. The lover enlists the aid of Venus, the goddess of love, who shoots a flaming arrow to set the building on fire. In the image, Venus, winged and crowned, gestures in triumph to the flaming tower. To the right, the rose's vigilant guardians, Danger, Fear, and Shame, abandon their posts in defeat, throwing down their keys as they flee. Soon after, the Lover wins the rose. He describes his victory in the final words of the text: "With great joy I plucked the flower from the leaves of the rosebush, and thus I have my red rose. Then it was day, and I awoke."