The Toilet of Venus (after Reni)
Jeremiah Davison (c.1695 - 1745)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1723 - 1745
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
2785 x 1920 x 80 mm
Place of origin
England
Order this imageCollection
Stourhead, Wiltshire
NT 732315
Caption
Venus is shown naked, lying back in an interior, attended by the Three Graces, Aglaia, Euphrosyne and Thalia, daughters of Zeus. One combs her hair, another holds Venus's right foot onto her thigh and a third ties a bracelet onto Venus's arm. Cupid stands between her legs with his bow and arrow on the floor in front of them. Another putto is seen in the background on the other side of a window and plucking flowers from a vase on the shelf inside. The artist copied from a painting by Guido Reni and studio, circa 1620 – 25 that was perhaps once in the collection of the Duke of Mantua, subsequently in the Royal Collection and now in the National Gallery, London.
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, The Toilet of Venus (after Reni) by Jeremiah Davison (Scotland c.1695 – London 1745), 1723-45. Venus is shown sitting lying back in an interior, on the right, moreorless naked apart from blue drapery around her left arm and pink drapery around her thighs. She is attended by the Three Graces: Aglaia, Euphrosyne and Thalia, daughters of Zeus. One is standing behind on the right her combing her hair. Another sits on the left holding Venus's right foot onto her thigh. The third stands at her right, in the centre, tying a bracelet onto Venus's arm. A cupid stands between her legs with his bow and arrow on the floor in front of them. Another cupid is seen in the background on the other side of a window and plucking flowers from a vase on the shelf inside. It is a copy after the painting by Guido Reni and studio, of around 1620 - 25, perhaps once in the collection of the Duke of Mantua, subsequently in the Royal Collection (1723 - 1836) and now in the National Gallery, London.
Provenance
Acquired by Henry II Hoare (1705-85) and thence by descent; given to the National Trust along with the house, its grounds, and the rest of contents by Sir Henry Hugh Arthur Hoare, 6th Bt (1865 – 1947) in 1946.
Credit line
Stourhead, The Hoare Collection (National Trust)
Makers and roles
Jeremiah Davison (c.1695 - 1745), copyist Guido Reni (Bologna 1575 – Bologna 1642), artist
References
Walpole 1927-28 Paget Toynbee (ed.), 'Horace Walpole's Journals of Visits to Country Seats, etc.', 1760-62, Walpole Society XVI, 1927 -28 pp. 9-80, p.42 Hazlitt 1903 William Hazlitt in 'Sketches of the Principal Picture Galleries in England' 1823-24, reprinted in The Collected Works, (ed.) A.R.Walker, 1903, Vol. IX, pp.60-61. Russell 1975/76 Francis Russell, 'The Stourhead Batonis and other copies after Reni', National Trust Year Book, 1975-76, p.109, fig.1.