Commissioned by Guidobaldo della Rovere, this Venus is no distant goddess but a woman in a Venetian palazzo, meeting our gaze while maids search a chest behind her. It became the model for reclining nudes from Goya to Manet's Olympia.
Look closer
The sleeping dog at her feet is a traditional sign of fidelity, suggesting a marriage context rather than simple seduction.
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Compared by a vision model
