Titian Venus with a Mirror c. 1555 Painting
Italian High Renaissance
Venus with a Mirror is a painting by Titian, now in the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. 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.
