Rokeby Venus its central use of a mirror, and because it shows the body of Venus turned away from the observer of the painting. The "Rokeby Venus" is the only surviving female nude by Velázquez. Nudes were extremely rare in seventeenth-century Spanish art, which was policed actively by members of the Spanish Inquisition. Despite this, nudes by foreign artists were keenly collected by the court circle, and this painting was hung in the houses of Spanish courtiers until 1813, when it was brought to England to hang in Rokeby Park, Yorkshire. In 1906, the painting was purchased by National Art Collections Fund
Pardo Venus arm drawn up to support the head and the other resting near the crotch, is essentially the same as that in Giorgione's "Dresden Venus", which after his death in 1510 was completed by Titian. The pose apart, the paintings offer a strong contrast, with the noisy and hectic scene in the "Pardo Venus" completely different from the tranquil and deserted landscape in Dresden. Around 1534 Titian had painted the "Venus of Urbino", and a repetition of this from 1545, perhaps a lost recorded "Venus" sent to Charles V, "was the basis" for the "Venus and Musician" series, which exists in