Giorgione (c.1477-1510) & Tiziano (c.1488-1576)
Venere dormiente (Sleeping Venus)
c.1508–1510
Oil on canvas, 108.5 x 175 cm
Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Dresden
The painting is one of the most famous works of the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister Dresden. It was probably commissioned by Girolamo Marcello from Giorgione on the occasion of his wedding in 1507. It shows the goddess Venus. Cupid, actually her constant companion, originally sat at her feet and played with bow and arrow. However, the state of preservation of Cupid was so precarious that it was painted over with the green of the meadow in 1837 (some fragments of Cupid can be seen in X-ray photos). A document from 1525 reports that the painting was started by Giorgione and completed by his collaborator Titian. However, the condition of the painting, which has been conserved several times in the past, no longer allows reliable statements to be made as to which parts were painted by which artist.
The commissioner may have thought of Latin wedding poems in which the sleeping Venus is asked to wake up and attend the feast of the marriage so that she can promote the love of the new couple. Giorgione gave the depiction of the sleeping goddess a unique harmonious charisma. The contour lines of her body continue in the soft wavy lines of the landscape, so that the whole picture has an Arcadian calm. (SKD)