User:Ldray/Sleeping Venus (Giorgione)/Jessbl Peer Review

General info
Ldray
 * Whose work are you reviewing?


 * Link to draft you're reviewing:User:Ldray/Sleeping Venus (Giorgione):Link to the current version of the article (if it exists):Sleeping Venus (Giorgione)

Evaluate the drafted changes
The additions to this article are strong and add a solid in depth aspect to each section that these edits are in. I may have missed these, but I do not see any citations within the sandbox edit. These may be important to add in to be sure they are not missed when the final draft is published.

Within the critical reception section specifically, the addition of art historians perspectives helps to create an idea of how this painting is perceived. I think these are solid additions and will be great for the article.

Within the history section, the additions and the section in general are both strong. The historical background and influence of the painting is made clear within this.

For future additions to the article, I would possibly add more to the Influences and Influence section. I have not researched this painting so there may not be any more information on it, but if there is maybe more information on how else this painting was influential to future artworks. For example, more analysis on what aspects of it are present within each of the influenced paintings listed could make this more clear. They are shown within the article, which helps a lot, but maybe more analysis about what specific aspects are within each of the paintings could be a good addition.

Overall, the additions are great and I would just add in citations!

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 determinedly pretending to be asleep while she actually teasingly masturbates in front of her voyeurs.

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.

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.