The painting proposes a new iconography of the sleeping Venus which incorporates the iconographic approach introduced by the famous and revolutionary Neoplatonic text Hypnerotomachia poliphili of 1499.
The real intrinsic innovation of the painting lies in the fact that the Goddess is completely subtracted from the narrative frame and in total detachment from the traditional representation of Venus. Furthermore, the addition of elements such as the pearl hairdo, the wedding rings and the veil - an allegory of the woman who offers her purity - and her gaze towards the outside and in particular at her husband and client - take her to the XVI century instead of limiting it to distant mythology. A Venus who openly presents herself as a bride. AND
Palma, as Giorgio Vasari later addressed him, settled in Venice at the dawn of the XNUMXth century, obtaining great fame specializing in portraits and representations of young women called "beautiful" that the artist often painted in balance between portrait and idealization, celebration nuptial and mythology.
The painting, described in the inventory postmortem of Palma il Vecchio as “a large painting on canvas with an almost finished nude” is dated 1529. From the mid-XNUMXth century, the painting was recorded in the most illustrious collections, exhibited in London at the Royal Academy and the Courtauld Institute, finally landing in the property of one of the greatest American collectors: Sir Paul Getty.
Infrared reflectology shows extremely good conservation and the typical 'pentimenti' of Palma's works, in particular a different position of the legs which, in an earlier phase, were slightly more extended. The intaglio frame of the painting is also original. A masterpiece to be ascribed to Mastro Jacopo da Bergamo, a friend of Palma, who was probably inspired for the decoration by the famous Grimani Ara, a Roman marble from the 1526st century BC which arrived in Venice as part of the Grimani collection in 600.000. The work is estimated between €800.000-XNUMX.
