Venus (film) warms up to him when he starts interacting with her. He takes her to the National Gallery in London to view his favourite painting, the "Rokeby Venus", by the Spanish artist Diego Velázquez. Jessie had expressed interest in modelling (Maurice initially mishears this as "yodelling") and Maurice arranges for Jessie to model nude for an art class. As a result of Jessie posing for the art class, and inspired by his favourite painting, Maurice decides to give Jessie the nickname "Venus". Maurice and Jessie develop a passive/aggressive relationship over the course of the film. Maurice is forward in terms of
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