Venus of Urbino

Venus of Urbino, oil painting completed in 1538 by the great Venetian Renaissance artist Titian. It is one of the most widely known and most thoroughly discussed of his works.

Inspired by such Italian artists of the High Renaissance as Michelangelo, Titian was considered a master within the accomplished artistic circles of 16th-century Venice. He has also been cited as the first Venetian painter to earn international standing. He painted anonymous “courtesan” portraits, as well as altarpieces and mythological paintings.

As a prolific portraitist, Titian produced flattering yet recognizably human likenesses of such prominent figures as Pope Paul III, the Holy Roman emperor Charles V, Venetian Doge Andrea Gritti, and Federigo II Gonzaga, the marquis of Mantua, yet despite the range of his prestigious commissions, Venus of Urbino is arguably his masterpiece.

In his 1880 travel diary, A Tramp Abroad, American author Mark Twain described the painting as “the foulest, the vilest, the obscenest picture the world possesses.” Allegorical touches, such as the clothed female figures in the background and the puppy asleep at Venus’s feet, have led to thorough iconographic readings of the painting, but perhaps Twain’s atavistic, and prudish, reaction was closer to Titian’s real intentions. The unselfconscious desire in the model’s direct, lascivious expression might have offended Twain, but her lovely, lustful gaze has also seduced countless viewers. Titian’s breathtaking talent and his bold depiction of female sexuality is why this painting is often cited as the grandmother of many of Western art’s most controversial images—including Édouard Manet’s Olympia—and considered a model of empowered female sexuality, as well as a precursor to the pinup.