To understand how sophisticated Romans viewed these statuettes, you might compare them to the statuette of the Virgin Mary on the left, which is displayed in my garden. I am not a Christian, but I was brought up to be one; and while I wasn't brought up to be Catholic, I am very comfortable with having a small shrine containing this statuette in my garden. I don't regard this image in the same way that a practicing Roman Catholic would, but it is more than just a decoration; it is a link to the past, to my Medieval ancestors. I would be very shocked if anyone intentionally broke this image; such vandalism would seem impious. I suspect that all Pompeians regarded images of Venus to be at least as sacred as I see my statuette of the Virgin Mary.
Most Romans were very superstitious; even if they didn't really believe in the goddess Venus, they would have wanted an image of her in their gardens because she guarded gardens as well as encouraging fertility among humans.
The most famous fresco of Venus to be found in a Pompeian garden was uncovered at the House of Venus Marina in 1952; it depicts Venus in a shell floating on the water. This isn't a great work of art, but the colors harmonize beautifully with the garden's vegetation. This fresco was painted after the earthquake of 62 C.E. and it is touching to see that the owner had restored his garden while his house was still in the process of being repaired when Vesuvius erupted seventeen years later.
The fresco in the garden at the House of Venus Marina also depicts the god Mars; this may be because of the love affair between Venus and Mars, but there is some indication that Mars may have been a god of agriculture before he became a god of war. Books written in the 1960s and 1970s often emphasize the possibility that Mars had been a god of agriculture, while books written in the 1990s tend to dismiss that possibility; it is difficult to tell how much changing attitudes towards the military have affected scholarly disagreements on this subject.
Images of Mars have only been found in three Pompeian gardens; but Cupid, the son of Venus and Mars, was often found in gardens. In the art of Classical Greece, Cupid was usually depicted as an adolescent boy or a young man, but during the Hellenistic period, he was often portrayed as a mischievous toddler; it is this image of Cupid which has survived on the cards which we give on Valentine's Day. Winged toddlers are the subject of many Pompeian frescos and statues; it may be incorrect to call them all Cupids, but they may portray the concept of plural Cupids or Erotes which represent the many varieties of love. The Romans never regarded Cupid as seriously as the Greeks revered Eros. These winged children shouldn't be seen as anything more than playful decorations.
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