Venus with a Mirror

Venus is shown half-length before a looking glass held by two winged putti, the reflection revealing the proud turn of her back as a laurel wreath is raised toward her head — an image of beauty contemplating itself that became one of the most beloved of all Renaissance compositions. Titian painted it about 1555, near the end of his long reign as the prince of Venetian colour, and the canvas has him at his most sensuous: the warm pearl of her flesh set against deep crimson and green draperies, with fur, jewels and braided hair rendered in passages of effortless richness. The goddess at her mirror was already a favoured Venetian theme, and the picture, which remained in the artist’s studio until his death, turns it into a meditation on vanity and perfect form. The painting is held in the National Gallery of Art, Washington.