The Rokeby Venus by Diego Velazquez
In the summer of 1651, Diego Velazquez returned to Spain from Italy and the king promoted him to the Director of Royal Art, which made him fall into the complex art affairs. The painter felt very depressed because he was unable to paint. At the same time, the court aristocracy was opposed to the king's decision, since he was a commoner. This made the painter deeply feel distressing. The Rokeby Venus was an extremely beautiful and excellent nude painting, which was made under such situation. It was the only most successful female painting of Velazquez. According to the research, the painter was made for the Spanish aristocrat Louis Delhi Arot.
This was one of the few nude portraits in Spain in the 17th century. Now it is preserved in the National Gallery London. Female nude paintings were extremely rare in the feudal autocratic Spain in the 17th century. The Rokeby Venus was also the only female nude painting of Velazquez: the leisurely and lying momentum and the plump shape made people think of the Venice school Giorgione's Sleeping Venus. But this twisted and elegant curve beauty, the youth surging that was back to the audience with the life desire and the secular and ideal beauty performance were imaginative, which also Venice school lacked. This painting showed the awakening of the Spanish artist's humanistic spirit in the 17th century and also marked the unique display of Spanish humanistic spirit in the painting.
The painting depicted Venus laid in front of the mirror and the little cupid held the mirror for her. Venus was turning her back to the audience. The implicit composition was obviously influenced by the Spanish religious asceticism. Venus was the goddess that many painters loved to depict. The painters tended to borrow the goddess to express their social and aesthetic ideals. Different nationalities and different painters showed the different Venus. This Venus depicted by Velasquez was dainty, cute, dignified and noble. Her incomparable beauty showed the aesthetic concepts of Spanish people. The painter used the rhythmic flow line to form the female body beauty. If the body of Venus was carefully seen, her changes of curves fluctuation were like the melody music with strong and sonorous in the upper and peaceful and soothing in the lower. The master always used the transparent and concise colors and precise brushworks to depict the complex skin changes and delicate body full of vitality and youthful spirit. This was the artist's praise for the human aesthetic beauty.
Most of Velazquez paintings were carried out for the king, it remained in palaces where few people saw it. Not until the upheavals caused by Napoleon's Peninsular War (1808€"14) was some of his work dispersed throughout Northern Europe. In the nineteenth-century, his paintings made an enormous impact upon artists, and to the present day Velazquez is remembered as the painter's painter.
This was one of the few nude portraits in Spain in the 17th century. Now it is preserved in the National Gallery London. Female nude paintings were extremely rare in the feudal autocratic Spain in the 17th century. The Rokeby Venus was also the only female nude painting of Velazquez: the leisurely and lying momentum and the plump shape made people think of the Venice school Giorgione's Sleeping Venus. But this twisted and elegant curve beauty, the youth surging that was back to the audience with the life desire and the secular and ideal beauty performance were imaginative, which also Venice school lacked. This painting showed the awakening of the Spanish artist's humanistic spirit in the 17th century and also marked the unique display of Spanish humanistic spirit in the painting.
The painting depicted Venus laid in front of the mirror and the little cupid held the mirror for her. Venus was turning her back to the audience. The implicit composition was obviously influenced by the Spanish religious asceticism. Venus was the goddess that many painters loved to depict. The painters tended to borrow the goddess to express their social and aesthetic ideals. Different nationalities and different painters showed the different Venus. This Venus depicted by Velasquez was dainty, cute, dignified and noble. Her incomparable beauty showed the aesthetic concepts of Spanish people. The painter used the rhythmic flow line to form the female body beauty. If the body of Venus was carefully seen, her changes of curves fluctuation were like the melody music with strong and sonorous in the upper and peaceful and soothing in the lower. The master always used the transparent and concise colors and precise brushworks to depict the complex skin changes and delicate body full of vitality and youthful spirit. This was the artist's praise for the human aesthetic beauty.
Most of Velazquez paintings were carried out for the king, it remained in palaces where few people saw it. Not until the upheavals caused by Napoleon's Peninsular War (1808€"14) was some of his work dispersed throughout Northern Europe. In the nineteenth-century, his paintings made an enormous impact upon artists, and to the present day Velazquez is remembered as the painter's painter.
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