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
Sleeping Venus (Giorgione) a sitting figure of Cupid beside Venus's feet, which was over-painted in the 19th century. In the course of painting, the landscape has also been changed at both sides, as has the colouring of the drapery, and the head of Venus was originally seen in profile, making it very similar to Titian's later "Pardo Venus". According to the usual account, the painting was unfinished at the time of Giorgione's death. The landscape and sky were later finished by Titian, who in 1534 painted the similar "Venus of Urbino", and several other reclining female nudes, such as his much repeated "Venus