VALENTINE GREEN, British, 1739-1813;
after JAMES BARRY, British, 1741-1806
Venus Rising from the Sea
mezzotint, 1772
The William A. Whitaker Foundation Art Fund, 80.62.1

Green, a master of the mezzotint print technique, reproduces a famous painting by Barry, Venus Anadyomene, painted in 1771.  The sexuality of the image is heightened by the presence of two stocky mer-horses that accompany the goddess.  Their wind-blown manes and strong, virile physicality, in collaboration with the beams of light shooting forth in the distance and the billows of smoke generating around her, suggest her wildness and power; she is a fomenter of change and a force to be reckoned with. 

Nonetheless, this Venus looks away in deference to the viewer, leaving her naked body vulnerable to full voyeuristic consumption.  Only a sheer billow of smoke veils her genitalia, thus heightening the eroticism.  Likewise, her long hair, which she winds above her head, grazes her side in tendrils that take the shape of fingers.  It is doubtful whether this image inspired in its contemporary audience as much admiration for Venus’s powers of creation as it engendered appreciation for the artist’s conception of the female form. 

Camille Calvin Tewell and Leisa Rundquist