Art in Context - Venus

After looking through our first presentation, in class, we were asked to write a report on two paintings that stood out to us.

 The first painting that really interested me was The sleeping Venus by Giorgione. The second was Titian's Venus of Urbino. Both of these were painted in the 16th century so i decided to start by understanding what was going on in Italy around this time.

Italian Renaissance painting began in the late 13th century and flourishing from the early 15th to late 16th centuries. At this time Italy, was divided into different political areas this influenced the development of Renaissance painting as well as Philosophy, Literature, Architecture, Theology and Scientific discovery.

 Some Italian cities were growing in wealth and making more connections with other countries in trade, as well as the establishment of the Medici Bank. Because of this they has access to a number of Classical texts, These included Philosophy, Poetry, Drama and Science. This lead to an interest in a Humanist view of the world and meant that artists relationship with their work and the church changed.

 Artists started looking at more classic artworks and mythology to inspire their work. They also started painting artworks that they expressed a sort visual poetry, or a story. 

Obviously the two paintings i am looking at use Venus as there subject. 

In Roman mythology, Venus was the goddess of love, sex, beauty, and fertility.Venus was also known as the goddess of victory, fertility, and even prostitution.

The Sleeping Venus
Giorgione
1510 oil on canvas

This oil painting was made in 1510, and is thought to have been completed by Venetian painter Titian after Giorgione's death in the same year. This painting really stood out because it was so strange in so many different ways. I thought, firstly, that the combination of a female nude and a countryside landscape was a very strange combination. The foreground and background look very unusual as well, the sleeping Venus looks like she was painted in a studio with soft lighting and it looks like the was almost collaged onto a painting of a countryside.

I noticed that Giorgione placed the Venus across the whole width of the painting. This was Painted at the same time Venice was defending its claims on the terra firma. Its holds on land. This could be seen as Venus representing Venice and using Venus as a symbol of Victory.

We discussed in class how it was slightly erotic with the hand position, fingers curled inwards, suggesting masturbation as well as the fact her eyes are closed, allowing the viewer to unknowingly look at her entirely. A few people in class saw this as unsettling and thought it seemed to be connected with male erotica, but while doing my research i found these kind of painting were commissioned as marriage paintings. They were added to furniture like the inside of a build in bed, that you can see in Titian's Venus of Urbino, or inside of a marriage chests that were intended to educate a bride to promote fertility. Female masturbation was believed to be an important step to fertility and it was actually believed that a woman would need to orgasm for a child to be conceived.


Michele Savonarola, a court physician to the Ferrara court  in 1440, gives advice and explains conception in detail,

“A woman cannot get pregnant without feeling great pleasure in the sexual  act, as she then emits her seed, and the womb is constricted as it is written…"

Titian, Venus of Urbino, 1538, oil on canvas, 119.20 x 165.50 cm

So obviously the first thing i noticed about this painting was that her eyes are open, it seems so much more intense and sexual because she is looking right at the viewer compared to the sleeping Venus above.

The second thing i see is how many symbolic things are happening within this painting. The flowers shown perhaps represent femininity, fragility, the hand, again in the same position as the sleeping Venus, fingers curled inwards perhaps symbolizing fertility. I noticed as well two maids going through her cassone chest, marriage chest, where she kept her things suggesting she is newlywed again going with my research above. 

The composition in this painting is very good as well because it reads like a page, from the eyes along the body, to the dog, up to the maids and back to the eyes.

I found researching this time very interesting and i am excited to continue doing more research into different historical times and the art that was produced. I really enjoy looking at different influences for art and artists and although very confusing i found researching political changes in Italy at this time pretty interesting.

Sources:

https://www.wga.hu/html_m/g/giorgion/various/venus.html

https://www.italian-renaissance-art.com/

https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/renaissance-reformation/early-renaissance1/beginners-renaissance-florence/a/florence-in-the-early-renaissance

https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo/A25255.0001.001/1:6.3.2?rgn=div3;view=fulltext

https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=EFhVehAvVyUC&pg=PA466&lpg=PA466&dq=terra+firma+and+Sleeping+Venus&source=bl&ots=D6psCr04dH&sig=C6w6Ds77RZGi4D7QNTYR0EA1Unc&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjvrY6kp5DdAhXMD8AKHeZjC7MQ6AEwA3oECAgQAQ#v=onepage&q=terra%20firma%20and%20Sleeping%20Venus&f=false

https://www.ancient.eu/venus/

https://s3.wp.wsu.edu/uploads/sites/458/2013/05/Kendra-Alexson-Research-1.pdf

https://www.visittuscany.com/en/ideas/the-cassone-a-renaissance-marriage-chest/

https://www.theartpostblog.com/en/venus-of-urbino/