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VELÁZQUEZ, Diego Rodriguez de Silva y: Venus at her Mirror (The Rokeby Venus)

🖼 Venus at her Mirror (The Rokeby Venus), 1649-51
Oil on canvas
122.5 × 177 cm
London, United Kingdom

Soft candlelight catches the goddess's pale skin as she gazes into her mirror, her body rendered in luminous brushwork against shadowed drapery. Velázquez's masterpiece revolutionized nude painting by showing Venus's face only through reflection, creating intimate psychological depth while challenging conventional Renaissance compositions.

The story of art
The story of art
E. H. Gombrich
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