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1 of 253523 objects
The Venus of Urbino c.1550-1600
Oil on canvas | 109.5 x 166.3 cm (support, canvas/panel/stretcher external) | RCIN 406162
After Titian (c. 1488-Venice 1576)
The Venus of Urbino c.1550-1600
After Titian (c. 1488-Venice 1576)
The Venus of Urbino c.1550-1600
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Venus is nude, full-length, reclining to the left on cushions. She clutches the white sheet to her loin and holds foliage in her right hand. Beyond, to the right, are two maids in a room, one kneeling at an open cassone. This is one of two replicas in the Royal Collection after an original picture painted by Titian for the Duke of Urbino c.1537-8 and now in the Uffizi, Florence. There are some minor changes to the composition in this version, but it does not seem to be by of any real significance. It appears to be by an itinerant Venetian c. 1550-1600, who would have copied the original at Pesaro.
Provenance
This is one of two versions of this image in the Royal Collection (RCIN 406162 & 402661), which are impossible to distinguish in historic inventories. A Titian Venus of this size is recorded at Whitehall in 1666 (no 469); one appears 'with a woman looking in a truck' in the King's Little Bedchamber at Windsor Castle in 1688 (no 754). It is not until 1710 that a single inventory records both of these works - in the Queen's Gallery at Kensington Palace (no 72) and again in the Little Bedchamber at Windsor Castle (no 16).
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Creator(s)
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Medium and techniques
Oil on canvas
Measurements
109.5 x 166.3 cm (support, canvas/panel/stretcher external)
159.4 x 193.0 x 7.3 cm (frame, external)
Category
Object type(s)
Other number(s)
Alternative title(s)
Recumbent Venus, previously entitled
