Venus with a Mirror

I will tell you about Diego Velazquez's work called 'Mirror Venus', which was painted between 1649 and 1651 and is exhibited today at the National Gallery in London.


Painting Venus takes courage. And in every sense! Especially if you are a painter living in Spain in the 17th century... Because painting a naked Venus means facing the Spanish Inquisition. This bold composition, made by Velazquez in defiance of strict religious rules, never returned to Spain when it was sent to be exhibited in Rokeby Park in Yorkshire, England in 1813, and has been exhibited in England ever since. Now you will say that these Spaniards deserved to lose this work to the British because of the strict rules of the Inquisition...

However, this work was subjected to a terrible attack in England in 1914. A mentally ill person came to the exhibition with a knife in his hand and severely damaged the Mirror Venus work. The work, which has since undergone a detailed restoration, is in better condition today and is exhibited in the National Gallery in London.


At the time when Velazquez painted this work, the Inquisition was not only imposing fines but even exile for such works. While in most Venus works made during that period and before, the Venus figure was depicted facing the viewer and looking into their eyes, Velazquez showed Venus naked from behind, showing part of her face through a mirror, as if to prove what a great genius he was. Thus, in this painting, Venus is not watching the audience, but the audience is watching Venus.



The artist even puts the viewer in a position where they are looking at Venus. You have the feeling that you saw Venus from behind, unaware of you. Not much of the mythological aspect of Venus, who is lying sprawled in front of a mirror held by her son Eros, is emphasized.


This brings the scene to an extremely realistic perspective. Baroque art, this time, reduces the goddess of beauty, known for her supernatural beauty, to the earth and presents us with a scene that we may encounter in real life but still doubt its reality. Venus's face is also blurred, and although it is not clearly visible from the mirror image, the viewer thinks at first glance that they are caught watching Venus. Because we feel like Venus noticed us at the last moment and realized that we were watching her from the reflection in the mirror. Since Velazquez served as the court painter for many years, it is thought that he painted this painting under the supervision of the royal family. So what was Velazquez's privilege?

In fact, Velazquez had managed to attract the attention of King Philip IV from his first days at the palace. He soon began painting numerous portraits of the king and his family. He rose higher and higher with each painting he painted, and his relationship with the king was constantly strengthened. After a while, when the king started to visit Velazquez, the friendship between them became official. At that time, Philip chose Velazquez as the only painter who could portray himself.

In fact, in 1643, Velazquez was even made responsible for the royal structures. On the other hand, his appointment as the head of the collection of the Spanish Crown caused the workload to increase. However, the opportunities he obtained and the income he earned were still quite high. During this period of intensity, the artist's productivity also decreased.
However, it is obvious that his creativity increased during this period. Because ''Mirror Venus'' appeared in exactly this period. This work, which probably used one of Philip's mistresses as a model, may have been ignored or even requested by the king himself. One of the striking points in the picture is; It is the whiteness of the Venus figure's skin and the blackness of the cover she lies on. Of course, this is not the only aim of the artist, who captures a baroque contrast with black and white. He might be trying to tell us something else.

There are rumors that King Philip chose his mistresses among theater artists during this period. The fact that a woman who was a theater artist at that time and was famous for her beauty wore a black abaya strengthens the possibility that the model used in this picture is this theater woman...

In other words, it took its place in art history as a scene where two close friends, a king and a painter, who were bored with the inquisitor mentality of the period, reflected the most intimate moment of a secret love in art. While doing this, Velazquez, as always, presented a brand new narration of Venus from a different perspective.... Thank you for reading, stay with art...