Venus and Mars 'high on drugs'

Boticelli's Venus and Mars has long been regarded as a tribute to the "conquering and civilising power of love" but new evidence suggests it could contain a subversive message about drug use.

A plant being held by a mischievous-looking satyr in the bottom right corner of the painting has been recognised as a specimen of Datura stramonium, a plant which causes madness and the urge to take one's clothes off.

The fruit, the effects of which are documented in Ancient Greek texts, had not been thought important until it was noticed by David Bellingham, a programme director at Sotheby's Institute of Art.

He showed the painting to horticulturalists at Kew Gardens who identified the plant, which is also called thorn apple and Devil's trumpet.

Okay, I took a close look at the painting. No trumpet flowers, no spiky seed pods. How are we to know it is supposed to be Datura? Here is a close-up of the little guy, it doesn't look like he is holding anything resembling Datura. What?