Rokeby Venus may have commissioned himself, "The Nude Maja" and "The Clothed Maja". These bear obvious compositional similarities with Velázquez's "Venus", although unlike Velázquez, Goya clearly painted his nude in a calculated attempt to provoke shame and disgust in the relatively unenlightened climate of 18th-century Spain. "Venus" was brought to England in 1813, where it was purchased by John Morritt for £500 (£ in 2019), and on the advice of his friend Sir Thomas Lawrence. Morritt hung it in his house at Rokeby Park, Yorkshire—thus the painting's popular name. In 1906, the painting was acquired for the National Gallery by the newly
Sleeping Venus (Giorgione) engravings of Giovanni Battista Palumba. Although prints had contained many more nude female figures, the two famous paintings of Botticelli, the "Birth of Venus" and the "Primavera", are the closest precedents in painting. The contemplative attitude toward nature and beauty of the figure is typical of Giorgione. The composition of this painting was highly influential, despite very public display of such images often being restricted for some centuries. The influence of this painting or paintings it influenced can be traced in a number of later reclining nudes such as the "Pardo Venus" and "Venus of Urbino" of Titian, the "Rokeby