Venus and Cupid c.1570-1610
Oil on canvas | 175.9 x 106.2 cm (support, canvas/panel/stretcher external) | RCIN 402937
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Venus, the goddess of love, is shown full-length, seated nude at a dressing table. Cupid hovers at her right shoulder, and she turns and reaches up to caress him with her right arm.
A very similar picture (with changes in the pose of Cupid and in the drapery) was formerly at Cassel. That version was signed ‘JACOBVS PAL…’ on a casket in the lower right corner. The Royal Collection version is the more sophisticated of the two and although it has subsequently been attributed to Pourbus there can be no doubt that the original attribution to Palma Giovane is correct.Provenance
Acquired by Charles I from Endymion Porter in an exchange; recorded in the Long Gallery at Whitehall in 1639 (no 95) as Palma Giovane; sold to Colonel Hutchinson for £15 on 30 October 1649 from Whitehall (no 63); recovered at the Restoration and listed in Store at Whitehall in 1666 (no 477)
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Creator(s)
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Medium and techniques
Oil on canvas
Measurements
175.9 x 106.2 cm (support, canvas/panel/stretcher external)
223.0 x 140.7 x 16.0 cm (frame, external)
Category
Object type(s)