User:Ldray/Sleeping Venus (Giorgione)

Critical reception
The art historian Millard Meiss comments on Venus' arm's gestures; he suggests that her right arm, which is bent over her head, is linked to the Greco-Roman gesture of sleep which was commonly used when depicting nymphs, fauns, and cupids. Meiss claims Venus' left arm is an erotic adaptation of Venus pudica which is accentuated by the tree stump behind her. Furthermore, Meiss confidently credits the creation of this erotic gesture to none other than Giorgione, pointing out its recurrence in what is probably Giorgione's red chalk drawing in Darmstadt. Other art historians claim an inherent sexual motif that is typically attributed to the placement and alleged movement of Venus' left hand. Art historian, David Lang Clark, claims the "...sign of muscular activity makes the scene much more sexually stimulating than the scene of a passive nude." Clark goes on to claim that Venus is in fact pretending to be asleep while she actually engages in a form of teasing self-pleasure in front of her voyeurs.

The Polish art historian, Jóef Grabski, comments on Giorgione's Sleeping Venus figure within the context of nature. Grabki explains that Giorgione's painting sheds light on the concept that women, specifically their beauty, are "...an integral part of nature," and could be described as nature's most beautiful accomplishment.

History
Art historian Udo Kultermann claims the themes of the original depiction of the sleeping goddess of love and (overpainted) cupid are comparable to the symbolism and significance of a wedding. Kultermann also adds that Giorgione's decision to depict a sleeping woman, particularly amongst a landscape, is innovative nevertheless. Art historian Millard Meiss notes that within Greco-Roman art Venus had yet to be represented in slumber, causing a deeming of Giorgione's creation as momentous. German artist, Gerhard Richter, once called Giorgione's Sleeping Venus "...the first chef d'oeuvre of the High Renaissance in northern Italy..." as well a "perfect expression of the spirit of Humanism..."

The painting was bought from a French dealer for Augustus the Strong of Saxony in 1695 as a Giorgione, but by 1722 was described in a catalogue as the "Famous Venus lying in a landscape by Titian". By the early 19th century it was thought to be a copy after Titian. It was not identified with the painting Michiel saw before the 19th century, when Giovanni Morelli proposed this, following which Michiel's attribution to Giorgione, with a Titian landscape, was mostly accepted for over a century. Any underdrawing was lost when the painting was transferred to a new canvas, probably in the early 19th century.

Influences and Influence
Titian's Venus of Urbino, however, places his nude female figure upon an illustrious bed within a palace, a setting and context Grabski describes as "a product of human civilization."