Venus Blindfolding Cupid

c. 1566/1570 or c. 1576/1580

Shown from the knees up, a seated woman and two winged, nude children gather at the center of this vertical painting. They all have pale, peachy skin. At the center of the composition, the woman, Venus, sits with her body angled slightly to our right as she turns her head back to our left, gazing into the distance with brown eyes under thick brows. She wears a jeweled headpiece over her upswept, honey-blond hair, and delicate ringlets frame her brow. Her cheeks are tinged with dusty rose-pink, and she has a long nose and a ruby-red, bow mouth. She wears an amber-yellow gown trimmed with white lace at the neckline. The short sleeve we can see is slashed to reveal cream-white fabric puffing out of the openings. A wide, gold chain inset with gleaming pale aquamarine-blue jewels the size of thumbprints drapes over her far shoulder and across her chest like a sash. She wears a pearl necklace and teardrop-shaped earrings, and more pearls and gems adorn the gold bracelets on her wrists. One child, in the lower right corner of the painting, stands in front of her with his back to us. He holds an arrow in his left hand, which he rests on the chocolate-brown cloth draped across Venus’s lap. He turns head to the right, and his face is partially obscured by one of his small, charcoal-gray and cream-white wings. Venus holds two ends of an off-white cloth tied around his head as a blindfold. Just beyond him is another person, visible from the hip up, who fills the height of the composition but is mostly cropped by the right edge. We see the left arm, shoulder, and edge of the hip as they stand with their back to us. The arm we can see is raised to hold what appears to be a metal bowl. On Venus’s opposite side, to our left, the second winged child stands on the ledge on which Venus sits. He leans one hand and his chin on Venus’s shoulder and gazes off to our right. He has chestnut-brown hair and eyes, and a round nose in a pudgy face. Loosely painted cranberry-red drapery hangs from the upper left corner and falls in cascading folds behind him. An azure-blue sky with tan clouds is visible beyond the drapes.

Media Options

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Though this painting presents a mythological allegory, Venus wears a costume and jewelry closely related to the fashion of the time it was painted. The two cupids may represent Eros and Anteros, both sons of Venus, but symbols of contrasting aspects of love—the blind and sensuous, and the clear-sighted and virtuous. In this context, scholars tend to interpret Venus as a deity overseeing marital love and conjugal chastity. This suggests that the work may have been painted or acquired to celebrate a marriage.

At some point after the painting’s completion, its right side was cut away. The disembodied arm in the upper right corner provides a clue of what was depicted there. In addition, the composition corresponds closely to the left side of Titian’s Venus Blindfolding Cupid in the Galleria Borghese, Rome. In the right side of that painting, two nymphs lean in toward Venus and the cupids. An x-radiograph of the Borghese picture has revealed that it was originally intended to have a third figure, between the Venus group on the left and the nymphs on the right. The pose of that central figure (later eliminated by the artist in the Borghese version) corresponds closely to that of the fragmentary figure preserved in the Gallery’s picture.

On View

West Building Main Floor, Gallery 23

Artwork overview

  • Medium

    oil on canvas

  • Credit Line

    Samuel H. Kress Collection

  • Dimensions

    overall: 122.4 x 97.3 cm (48 3/16 x 38 5/16 in.)
    framed: 142.9 x 122.1 x 12.1 cm (56 1/4 x 48 1/16 x 4 3/4 in.)

  • Accession

    1952.2.12

More About this Artwork

Scholarly Article:  Italian Paintings of the Sixteenth Century: Venus Blindfolding Cupid, c. 1566/1570 or c. 1576/1580

Scholarly Series:  Italian Paintings of the Sixteenth Century

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Charles Jervas (or Jarvis) [1675?-1739], London; (his sale, at his residence, London, 11-20 March 1739, 8th day, no. 543, as by Titian);[1] purchased by Richard Temple, 1st viscount Cobham [1675-1749], Stowe House, Buckingham;[2] by inheritance to his sister, Hester Temple Grenville, 1st countess Temple [d. 1752], Stowe House; by inheritance to her son, Richard Grenville-Temple, 2nd earl Temple [1711-1779], Stowe House;[3] by inheritance to his nephew, George Nugent-Temple-Grenville, 1st marquess of Buckingham [1753-1813], London and Stowe House; by inheritance to his son, Richard Temple-Nugent-Brydges-Chandos-Grenville, 1st duke of Buckingham and Chandos [1776-1839], London, Stowe Park, and Avington Park; by inheritance to his son, Richard Plantagenet Temple-Nugent-Brydges-Chandos-Grenville, 2nd duke of Buckingham and Chandos [1797- 1861], (Buckingham and Chandos sale, by Christie's at Stowe House, 15 September 1848, no. 422);[4] purchased by Peter Norton, London, who apparently sold the painting back to the Buckingham and Chandros family; the 2nd duke's son, Richard Plantagenet Campbell Temple-Nugent-Brydges-Chandos-Grenville, 3rd duke of Buckingham and Chandos [1823-1889], Stowe House; probably by inheritance to his daughter, Mary, 11th baroness Kinloss [1852-1944], Stowe House and Scotland; (Kinloss sale, at Stowe House, 5 July 1921, no. 1697,[5] apparently bought in by the family); probably by inheritance to her daughter, the Hon. Mrs. Thomas Close Smith [1886-1972, née Caroline Mary Elizabeth Morgan-Grenville], Boycott Manor, Buckinghamshire, by 1944.[6] (Count Alessandro Contini Bonacossi [1878-1955], Florence and Rome); sold 1950 to the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York;[7] gift 1952 to NGA.
[1] As “Venus hood-winking Cupid, the Elements offering Tribute," by Titian; see A Catalogue of the Collection of Pictures, Prints and Drawings late of Charles Jarvis, Esq., London, 1740: 8th day’s sale, 18, no. 543. The sale catalogue identifies the deceased owner as the Principal Painter to Kings George I and George II, and explains that the nearly 600 pictures in his collection were “chiefly collected by him, in a series of Forty Years, in Rome, Lombardy, Venice, France and Flanders, and from the Cabinets of many of the English Nobility.” See also Fern Rusk Shapley, Catalogue of the Italian Paintings, National Gallery of Art, 2 vols., Washington, 1979: 1:506 n. 12, and the correspondence from Colin Anson in NGA curatorial files.
[2] See the MS copy of the Jervas sale catalogue in the National Art Library, Victoria and Albert Museum, London (MSL/ 1938/ 867), f. 58, where the buyer is identified as Lord Cobham, and the price paid as £16.10s. See also_ Lord Cobham’s Account Book, 1736-41_, Huntington Library, San Marino, California, Stowe Papers (H.E.H. ST130), entry for March 20, 1739?/1740: “To a large picture bought at Mr Jarvises Sale by Mr Squib as by Bill £17-1-0,” quoted by Shapley 1979, 1:506 n. 12, and in the correspondence from Colin Anson in NGA curatorial files.
[3] Stowe: A Description of the House and Gardens, London, 1763, and subsequent editions. As recorded by Colin Anson, “The Picture Collection at Stowe,” Apollo 97 (June 1973): 597 n. 2, the catalog of the Stowe collection went through fifteeen editions between 1759 and 1832, and had to be constantly revised to take account of the rehanging of the pictures. For the various rooms at Stowe in which the Venus Blindfolding Cupid is recorded, see Shapley 1979, 1:505-506 n. 4, and the correspondence from Colin Anson in NGA curatorial files.
[4] Henry Rumsey Forster, The Stowe Catalogue, London, 1848: no. 422, as by Titian.
[5] Catalogue of the Ducal Estate of Stowe, near Buckingham, Northhampton, 1921: no. 1697, as by Titian.
[6] For a general account of the formation and dispersal of the Stowe collection, see Anson 1973, 586-598; and Paul Whitfield, “Bankruptcy and Sale at Stowe: 1848,” Apollo 97 (June 1973): 599-604.
[7] See The Kress Collection Digital Archive, https://kress.nga.gov/Detail/objects/2429.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1979

  • Paintings of Italian Masters from the Collections of U.S.A. Museums, State Hermitage Museum, Leningrad; Pushkin Museum, Moscow; The Kiev Museum of Western and Eastern Art, 1979, no catalogue (organized by the Armand Hammer Foundation, Los Angeles).

1995

  • Tiziano Vecellio: Amor Sacro e Amor Profano, Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Rome, 1995, no. 146, repro.

Bibliography

1740

  • A Catalogue of the Collection of Pictures, Prints and Drawings late of Charles Jarvis, Esq. London, 1740: 8th day's sale.

1763

  • Stowe: A Description of the House and Gardens. London, 1763: 11.

1848

  • Forster, Henry Rumsey. The Stowe Catalogue. London, 1848: no. 422.

1921

  • Catalogue of the Ducal Estate of Stowe, near Buckingham. Northhampton, 1921: 193, no. 1697.

1951

  • Paintings and Sculpture from the Kress Collection Acquired by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation 1945-1951. Introduction by John Walker, text by William E. Suida. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1951: 116, no. 48, repro.

1952

  • Suida, Wilhelm. “Miscellanea Tizianesca.” Arte Veneta 6 (1952): 36-38.

1953

  • Pallucchini, Rodolfo. Tiziano. Lezioni di storia dell’arte. 2 vols. Bologna, 1953-1954: 2:113-115.

1955

  • Della Pergola, Paola. Galleria Borghese: I dipinti. 2 vols. Rome, 1955-1959: 1(1955):132.

1958

  • Tervarent, Guy de. Attributs et symboles dans l'art profane, 1450-1600. 3 vols. Geneva, 1958-1964: 1(1958):63.

1959

  • Paintings and Sculpture from the Samuel H. Kress Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1959: 195, repro.

  • Morassi, Antonio. “Titian.” In Encyclopedia of World Art. 17+ vols. London, 1959+: 14(1967):col. 150.

1960

  • Valcanover, Francesco. Tutta la pittura di Tiziano. 2 vols. Milan, 1960: 2:71.

1961

  • Paintings in the Art Institute of Chicago: A Catalogue of the Picture Collection. Chicago, 1961: 307.

1965

  • Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 130.

1968

  • National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 116, repro.

  • Shapley, Fern Rusk. Paintings from the Samuel H. Kress Collection: Italian Schools, XV-XVI Century. London, 1968: 188-189, fig. 434.

1969

  • Pallucchini, Rodolfo. Tiziano. 2 vols. Florence, 1969: 1:169-170, 180, 310.

  • Valcanover, Francesco. L’opera completa di Tiziano. Milan, 1969: no. 410.

  • Zeri, Federico. "Review of Paintings from the Samuel H. Kress Collection. Italian Schools XV-XVI Century by Fern Rusk Shapley." The Burlington Magazine 111 (1969): 456.

  • Wethey, Harold. The Paintings of Titian. 3 vols. London, 1969-1975: 3(1975):85-86, 207-208.

1972

  • Fredericksen, Burton B., and Federico Zeri. Census of Pre-Nineteenth Century Italian Paintings in North American Public Collections. Cambridge, Mass., 1972: 203, 470, 476, 647.

1975

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 346, repro.

1977

  • Pallucchini, Rodolfo. Profilo di Tiziano. Florence, 1977: 55.

1979

  • Shapley, Fern Rusk. Catalogue of the Italian Paintings. National Gallery of Art. 2 vols. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1979: 1:503-506; 2:pl. 353, as Follower of Titian.

1980

  • Fasolo, Ugo. Titian. Florence, 1980: 78.

1985

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 396, repro.

1990

  • Titian, Prince of Painters. Exh. cat. Palazzo Ducale, Venice; National Gallery of Art, Washington. Venice, 1990: 346.

1993

  • Lloyd, Christopher. Italian Paintings before 1600 in the Art Institute of Chicago. Princeton, 1993: 251.

  • Le Siècle de Titien. L’Âge d’Or de la Peinture à Venise. Exh. cat. Grand Palais, Paris, 1993: 619.

1995

  • Bernardini, Maria Grazia, ed. Tiziano: Amor sacro e amor profane. Exh. cat. Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Rome. Milan, 1995: 433.

1997

  • Goffen, Rona. Titian's Women. New Haven and London, 1997: no. 85, repro.

2003

  • Falomir, Miguel, ed. Tiziano. Exh. cat. Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid, 2003: 265, 402.

2007

  • Humfrey, Peter. Titian: The Complete Paintings. Ghent and New York, 2007: 341.

  • Ferino-Pagden, Sylvia, ed. Der späte Tizian und die Sinnlichkeit der Malerei. Exh. cat. Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna; Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice. Vienna, 2007: 249.

2008

  • Bayer, Andrea, ed. Art and Love in Renaissance Italy. Exh. cat. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth. New Haven and London, 2008: 331.

  • Wald, Robert. "Titian Vienna Danaë. Observations on Execution and Replication in Titian’s Studio.” In Late Titian and the Sensuality of Painting. Edited by Sylvia Ferino-Pagden. Exh. cat. Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna; Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice, 2008: 133 n. 48.

2009

  • Tagliaferro, Giorgio, and Bernard Aikema, with Matteo Mancini and Andrew John. Le botteghe di Tiziano. Florence, 2009: 239.

  • Ilchman, Frederick, with contributions by Linda Borean et al. Titian, Tintoretto, Veronese: Rivals in Renaissance Venice. Exh. cat. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Musée du Louvre, Paris. Farnham, 2009: 79.

2013

  • Humfrey, Peter, ed. The Reception of Titian in Britain: From Reynolds to Ruskin. Turnhout, 2013: 20.

Wikidata ID

Q20176693

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