National Gallery, London
This picture is taken from Roman Mythology. It shows Venus, Goddess of Love and Beauty, looking into a mirror held by her son Cupid. Velazquez spent most of his time painting portraits for the Royal Family of Spain and their relatives. He is one of the most famous portrait painters of all time. But this painting was probably done for himself, and when he did it, he put himself in danger of serious punishment. In Spain, although the King ruled, the Church was in control. They watched everything that everybody did, and had a very large number of people put to death. It was against the law in Spain to paint nude pictures like this one. Velazquez has been very careful to only show her back. The image of the face is not very clear. Old mirrors were not as clear as modern ones. Perhaps Velazquez wanted to disguise the face of the woman for her protection. The arrangement and colouring in this painting is very simple. The graceful lines of the body are repeated in the grey and white bed covers. The red curtain is at the same angle as her head, and is a warm colour, like her pink flesh.