Female nude and a mirror, please. With a side of river.
Apr 11th, 2005 by Kate
I just read a post in the art history community I belong to on livejournal. The author of this post is looking for a painting of a nude female holding a mirror possibly lying beside a river. That’s like asking for a vanitas by a Dutch artist with a skull, some sort of scholarly book and a candle that has been extinguished. There are so many!
Several examples come to mind. Velázquez’s Venus and Cupid (The “Rokeby Venus”) for instance but the scene takes place indoors so scratch that one. Don’t make me get out the Gardner’s! I’ll do it! I’m thinking Renaissance… I can picture it in my head but I think I’m combining Titian’s Venus of Urbino with Gentileschi’s Susana and the Elders in some weird fashion. I’ll find it though! Rubens’ Venus at a Mirror hasn’t got a river in it. It’s probably Baroque– they were pretty big on mirror tricks and nudes. Heh, I can’t find the one specific one I am imagining but I have come across many others that meet one of the two requirements: Susannah and the Elders by Tintoretto and Vanity by Memling, both paintings show women holding mirrors but no river.
Just for fun, I’ll throw in this Goya. I love the weird stuff.