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Venus lies on a dark satin sheet with her back to us, gazing into a mirror held by Cupid, in which her face appears blurred. Painted around 1647–1651, Velázquez's Rokeby Venus is the only surviving female nude by the Spanish master, and in 1914 it was slashed by a suffragette.
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A rare nude in Spain
In seventeenth-century Spain, the Catholic Church and the Inquisition strongly discouraged paintings of the nude. Only a few aristocratic collectors owned such works, usually by Italian masters like Titian. Diego Velázquez painted The Toilet of Venus, known as the Rokeby Venus, around 1647–1651, possibly during his second journey to Italy. It is his only surviving female nude.
The painting was first recorded in the collection of Gaspar de Haro, a Spanish nobleman and collector. Its nickname comes from Rokeby Park in Yorkshire, England, where it hung in the nineteenth century before being bought for the National Gallery in 1906.
Venus seen from behind
The goddess lies on a dark grey satin sheet, her back to the viewer, in a long, graceful curve. Unlike the Venuses of Titian or Giorgione, she does not face us. Velázquez painted her body with soft, warm flesh tones against the cool sheet and the red curtain, and the result is one of the most celebrated nudes in Western art.
Cupid and the mirror
At the foot of the bed, Cupid, with blue-grey wings, kneels and holds up a mirror framed in black. Pink ribbons hang over the frame, perhaps the bonds of love, perhaps a fetter of the god.
Detail 1
Cupid with the mirror
The winged Cupid kneels and holds up the mirror for Venus. Pink ribbons drape over the frame.
The blurred face
In the mirror, Venus's face appears, dark and blurred. Optically, the reflection is impossible: from our position we would see her body, not her face. Velázquez deliberately kept the face indistinct, so that the goddess remains an ideal of beauty rather than a recognisable woman, and perhaps so that she appears to look at us through the mirror.
Detail 2The face in the mirror
Venus's reflection is blurred and shadowy. It seems to look back at the viewer, turning us into the observed.
The ribbon and the curtain
The pink silk ribbon looped over the mirror and the heavy red curtain behind create a warm frame for the scene. Velázquez painted them with loose, rapid brushwork, contrasting with the smooth surface of the body.
Detail 3The pink ribbon
A pink ribbon hangs over the top of the mirror, painted in a few free strokes. It may symbolise the bonds of love.
The suffragette attack
On 10 March 1914, the suffragette Mary Richardson entered the National Gallery with a meat cleaver hidden in her coat and slashed the painting seven times, to protest against the arrest of the suffragette leader Emmeline Pankhurst. She later said she disliked the way men gazed at the painting. The canvas was skilfully restored, and the marks are now barely visible.
A painting of rare boldness
For a Spanish court painter, painting a female nude was a bold act. The Inquisition could punish artists for indecent images, and Spanish collections kept their nudes, mostly by Titian and Rubens, in private rooms. Velázquez's Venus is not an idealised goddess of marble perfection but a living woman, seen from behind with soft, natural flesh tones. His loose, confident brushwork, especially in the drapery and the mirror, shows the freedom of his late style. The idea of the mirror reflecting a face that the viewer cannot see directly connects the painting to Las Meninas, with its mirror reflecting the king and queen. Both paintings play with looking and being looked at.
Seeing the Rokeby Venus
The painting measures about 1.2 by 1.8 metres and hangs in the National Gallery in London.
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Why is it called the Rokeby Venus?
It is named after Rokeby Park in Yorkshire, where it hung in the 19th century before entering the National Gallery in 1906.
Why is Venus's face blurred in the mirror?
Velázquez kept the reflection vague, so the goddess remains an ideal of beauty, and so that she seems to gaze at the viewer.
Was the Rokeby Venus attacked?
Yes. In 1914 the suffragette Mary Richardson slashed it with a meat cleaver; it was later restored.
Where is the Rokeby Venus?
It is in the National Gallery in London.
Sources and further reading
- The National Gallery, London, collection notes on The Toilet of Venus (The Rokeby Venus)
- Jonathan Brown, Velázquez: Painter and Courtier (1986)
- Lynda Nead, The Female Nude: Art, Obscenity and Sexuality (1992)
