Sleeping Venus:

About the Painting:

The Sleeping Venus, one of the last works of Giorgione, and one of the first female reclining nudes in European painting of the time is of a naked woman sleeping peacefully and oblivious to the gaze of others. Her profile appears to follow the rolling hills in the  landscape behind. The choice of a naked woman marked a revolution in art, and is considered by some authorities one of the starting points of modern art.

Giorgione put a great deal of effort into painting the background details and shadows although it is believed that the painting was unfinished at the time due to his death  from plague in 1510 at the age of 33, resulting in the incomplete landscape and sky being finished by Titian, who was  his friend and colleague, and who also at a later date painted a similar reclining nude, Venus of Urbino.

Underlying erotic implications are made by Venus's raised arm and the placement of her left hand on her groin although there is no sexual implications in the work. The sheets are painted in silver which is a cold colour instead of the more commonly used warm tones for linens and are rigid looking in comparison to those depicted in similar paintings by Titian or Velázquez.