The final payment for the work was made on 18 January 1634, with Guercino receiving the balance from Cesare Cavazza, the court chamberlain or 'guardarobiere', a sum equal to 126 scudi – the advance on the work is unknown but was probably about 30 scudi.[1] Guercino's biographer Carlo Cesare Malvasia states it was the first he produced in 1634, "Made for a gentleman in Modena, a canvas to give to the Most Serene [Duke] of that place, showing a Venus with an archer Cupid sitting by her, and a Mars".[1] A document of November 1633 from Guercino to Cavazza refers to a painting then in progress for the duke, hoping to finish it soon and deliver it before Christmas that same year, as most probably happened given the payment date.[1]
It was recorded in the 'camera dei Sogni' in the palace between 1692 and 1694[1] before Francesco III d'Este took it to Modena after selling a huge chunk of the family collection to Augustus III of Saxony in 1745–1746.[2] The French seized the work in 1796 and retained it until 1815, when it rejoined those which had remained in the Este collection in its present home.
