Template:POTD/2021-01-12
Venus with a Mirror is an oil-on-canvas painting created around 1555 by the Italian Renaissance painter Titian. The pose may have been inspired by the classical statues of the Venus de' Medici in Florence or the Capitoline Venus in Rome; the painting is said to celebrate the ideal beauty of the female form, or to be a critique of vanity, or perhaps both. X-ray analysis has revealed that it was painted over an earlier double portrait that Titian had abandoned. He kept the red cloak of one of the previous figures 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 work. The work is in the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., where it is considered to be one of the highlights of the collection.Painting credit: Titian