Venus effect Venus effect The Venus effect is a phenomenon in the psychology of perception, named after various paintings of Venus gazing into a mirror, such as Diego Velázquez's "Rokeby Venus", Titian's "Venus with a Mirror", and Veronese's "Venus with a Mirror". Viewers of such paintings assume that Venus is admiring her own reflection in the mirror; however, since the viewer sees her eyes in the mirror, Venus is actually looking at the reflection of the painter. This psychological effect is often used in the cinema, where an actor will be shown apparently looking at himself or herself in the mirror. What
Rokeby Venus codes of pictorial decorum would not easily permit a known lady to be painted in this way". For Spaniards of the 17th century, the issue of the nude in art was tied up with concepts of morality, power, and aesthetics. This attitude is reflected in the literature of the Spanish Golden Age, in works such as Lope de Vega's play "La quinta de Florencia", which features an aristocrat who commits rape after viewing a scantily clad figure in a mythological painting by Michelangelo. In 1632, an anonymous pamphlet—attributed to the Portuguese Francisco de Braganza—was published with the title "A copy