Rokeby Venus its central use of a mirror, and because it shows the body of Venus turned away from the observer of the painting. The "Rokeby Venus" is the only surviving female nude by Velázquez. Nudes were extremely rare in seventeenth-century Spanish art, which was policed actively by members of the Spanish Inquisition. Despite this, nudes by foreign artists were keenly collected by the court circle, and this painting was hung in the houses of Spanish courtiers until 1813, when it was brought to England to hang in Rokeby Park, Yorkshire. In 1906, the painting was purchased by National Art Collections Fund
The Birth of Venus (Cabanel) The Birth of Venus (Cabanel) The Birth of Venus (French: "Naissance de Venus") is a painting by the French artist Alexandre Cabanel. It was painted in 1863, and is now in the Musée d'Orsay in Paris. A second and smaller version (85 x 135.9 cm) from ca. 1864 is in Dahesh Museum of Art. A third (106 x 182.6 cm) version dates from 1875; it is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. Shown to great success at the Paris Salon of 1863, "The Birth of Venus" was immediately purchased by Napoleon III for his own personal