Torso of Venus and a Landscape Torso of Venus and a Landscape Torso of Venus and a Landscape is a sketch by Post-Impressionist artist Vincent van Gogh. It now resides in the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. This drawing was created while van Gogh was staying with his brother in Paris (in 1886-1888), a period during which they did not write any letters to each other. As a result, little is known about the artist during this period except for his still-life paintings and "Agostina Segatori Sitting in the Café du Tambourin". In 1887, he sketched this drawing onto a piece of paper with black chalk
Venus Castina who was, in consequence, torn to pieces by the avenging demons in the shape of his own hounds. The chaste Venus—if the idea of Venus is ever that of chastity—was the 'Venus Urania', or the Venus of the stars, or of heaven. Herodotus wrote that Aphrodite Urania cursed a group of Scythians who pillaged Venus' temple at Ascalon by making them effeminate: "So they turned back, and when they came on their way to the city of Ascalon in Syria, most of the Scythians passed by and did no harm, but a few remained behind and plundered the temple of