Rokeby Venus facts for kids
The Rokeby Venus (pronounced ROHK-bee), also known as Venus at her Mirror, is a famous painting by Diego Velázquez. He was a very important artist during the Spanish Golden Age, a time when Spanish art and culture were at their best. Velázquez likely painted this artwork between 1647 and 1651, possibly when he was visiting Italy.
The painting shows the Roman goddess Venus lying on a bed. She is looking into a mirror held by her son, Cupid. Today, you can see this beautiful painting at the National Gallery in London, England.
Velázquez combined two common ways of showing Venus in art. One way was to show her lying down, and the other was to show her looking into a mirror. It looks like Venus is gazing at herself in the mirror. But if you think about it, you can see her face reflected towards you, the viewer. This interesting trick is called the Venus effect. The painting was quite new and different for its time because it used a mirror in the middle and showed Venus with her back to the viewer.
This painting was owned by important people in Spain until 1813. Then, it was brought to England and hung in a place called Rokeby Park in Yorkshire. That's how it got its popular name, the Rokeby Venus. In 1906, a group called the National Art Collections Fund bought the painting for the National Gallery in London. In 1914, a woman named Mary Richardson, who was fighting for women's right to vote (a suffragette), attacked the painting and damaged it. Luckily, it was carefully fixed and put back on display.
Who Owned the Rokeby Venus?
For a long time, people thought the Rokeby Venus was one of the last paintings Velázquez ever made. In 1951, experts found a record from 1651 that showed the painting belonged to Gaspar Méndez de Haro, 7th Marquis of Carpio. He was a close friend of King Philip IV of Spain. Haro's great-uncle, the Count-Duke of Olivares, was Velázquez's first important supporter.
It's hard to know the exact date Velázquez painted the Rokeby Venus. His painting style doesn't give many clues. However, the strong focus on colors and shades suggests it was made later in his career. Most experts believe it was finished in the late 1640s or early 1650s. This could have been in Spain or during his last trip to Italy. If so, the way he painted, with broad strokes and less clear shapes, shows the start of his final period as an artist. His earlier works had very careful details and strong contrasts between light and dark. In this painting, he used a softer, more subtle style. This style became even more refined in his later masterpiece, Las Meninas.
The painting was passed down from Haro to his daughter, Catalina de Haro y Guzmán. She was the eighth Marchioness of Carpio. Then it went to her husband, Francisco Álvarez de Toledo, the tenth Duke of Alba. In 1802, King Charles IV of Spain ordered the family to sell the painting and other artworks to Manuel de Godoy. Godoy was the king's favorite and most important minister.
The painting disappeared from Godoy's palace during the Peninsular War, when Napoleon's army invaded Spain. It then went to George Augustus Wallis, a British painter. Wallis worked in Spain for William Buchanan, a big art dealer. Buchanan brought the painting to England in 1813.
In October 1813, Buchanan offered shares in a group of twenty-four top paintings from Spain to rich English collectors. These collectors could either buy the paintings themselves or share in the money made from selling them in London. The Venus was one of these paintings. This was a similar way that many famous paintings from the Orleans Collection had been brought to London years before.
In England, John Morritt bought the painting for £500. This was a lot of money back then! He bought it after getting advice from his friend, Sir Thomas Lawrence. Morritt hung the painting in his house at Rokeby Park in Yorkshire. This is why the painting is now famously called the Rokeby Venus.
In 1906, the painting was bought for the National Gallery by the new National Art Collections Fund. This was their first big success in raising money for art. King Edward VII loved the painting very much. He secretly gave £8,000 towards buying it. After that, he became a supporter of the Fund.
See also
- List of works by Diego Velázquez
In Spanish: Venus del espejo para niños
