This is a depiction by the Renaissance painter Annibale Carracci, showing Venus, the goddess of love, and her lover Anchises. The offspring of this love would be none other than Aeneas, the Trojan hero who, after the fall of Troy, founded what would later become the Roman world in all its glory. As someone who is used to seeing Anchises as an old man carried out from the ruins of Troy on the shoulders of Aeneas, it's fun to see him dallying with the goddess here. Below is a detail from the image showing the inscription on the footstool: genus unde latinum, "whence the Latin race" (would come) - famous words from the opening lines of Vergil's Aeneid.
You can also find more myths and legends for the week of September 2 - September 8 here. For more information and links to the actual javascript code, see the Myths & Legends Widget Reference Page.
