Rokeby Venus 1997, the art historian Peter Cherry suggested that Velázquez sought to overcome the contemporary requirement for modesty by portraying Venus from the back. Even in the mid-18th century, an English artist who made a drawing of the Venus when it was in the collection of the Dukes of Alba noted it was "not hung up, owing to the subject". Another attitude to the issue was shown by Morritt, who wrote to Sir Walter Scott of his "fine painting of Venus' backside", which he hung above his main fireplace, so that "the ladies may avert their downcast eyes without difficulty and
Venus Victorious death, his family and Guino's family argued over who owned the sculpture, with the former winning out. When Paul Renoir moved to Canada he took the sculpture with him - on his death his widow sold it and the last painting ever painted by Renoir at auction. On 19 September 2013 it was auctioned again, this time by the Ukrainian Institute of America to the Carlos Slim Foundation, which passed it its current owners. A bronze cast from the sculpture is now in Tate Britain. Venus Victorious Venus Victorious (French - "Venus victorieuse"; French - "Venus victoriosa") is a c.1914