Venus with a Mirror
| Venus with a Mirror | |
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| Artist | Titian |
| Year | 1555 |
| Medium | oil on canvas |
| Dimensions | 124 cm × 104 cm (49 in × 41 in) |
| Location | National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. |
Venus with a Mirror (about 1555) is a painting by Titian, now in the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, and it is considered to be one of the collection's highlights.
The pose of the Venus resembles the classical statues of the Venus de' Medici in Florence or the Capitoline Venus in Rome, which Titian may have seen when he wrote that was "learning from the marvelous ancient stones." The painting is said to celebrate the ideal beauty of the female form, or to be a critique of vanity, or perhaps both. It was copied by several later artists, including Peter Paul Rubens and Anthony van Dyck.
Titian made a number of paintings of the same subject, but this is the believed to be the earliest and the only version to be entirely by the hand of Titian, without additions by his assistants. it remained in his house until his death in 1576.
X-rays of the painting have revealed that Titian painted it over a double portrait which he had abandoned. Titian kept the red cloak of one of the figures in the abandoned painting and placed it under Venus's arm. The use of the cloak from the earlier painting probably played a large part in the composition of the new painting.
Titian is believed to have made another version of this Venus for the Venetian lawyer Niccolo Crasso, who also commissioned Titian to paint the Retable of Saint Nicholas de Bari at about the same time. A drawing of the other version was included by Anthony van Dyck in the sketchbook made during his trip to Italy. This other version is now lost, but a studio copy exists in the Hermitage Museum.
Titian is thought to have made a second copy, which was sent to his regular patron King Philip II of Spain, in 1567. This version was also lost, but a copy of it by Peter Paul Rubens exists, which is in the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum in Madrid.
Studio version still in the Hermitage, originally from the collection of Empress Josephine, Malmaison
Version in the Wallraf-Richartz-Museum, Cologne
Version in the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Dresden
Version in the UK Royal collection since the 1720s
Engraving by Lucas Vorsterman II after Titian for the Theatrum Pictorium
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