In his 1880 A Tramp Abroad, Mark Twain wrote that The Venus of Urbino was “the foulest,
the vilest, the obscenest picture the world possesses.” Though painted 342
years before Twain commented on it, it stayed scandalizing for the fact that the woman in
the painting could be masturbating. But is Titian’s Venus really pleasuring herself?
Titian painted the Venus of Urbino in 1538 and he was heavily inspired by a 1510 painting titled The
Sleeping Venus. It was painted by the artist Giorgione, but he died before finishing his
masterpiece. Its completion was then made by Titian himself, who painted its background.
You see a nude woman sleeping outside; a couple of meters away from a small village.
She’s laying on a white blanket, her head peacefully resting on her right arm and her
left hand seems to be positioned on top of her genitals. We’ll get back to that later.
The Venus of Urbino may share many similarities with The Sleeping Venus,
but the two paintings are extremely different. First, the setting in which the Venus of Urbino
is situated is much more intimate; she’s indoors and in a bed. Titian separates the
composition in three. You have the bed, the wall and the background. The dark
wall isolates the subject on the left side of the image, while the background on the right
side adds depth, mainly through the linear perspective showcased by the tiled floor.
Second, and this difference is very important, the woman isn’t sleeping,
she’s staring directly at the viewer. The reason why this detail is important
is because it completely changes the viewer’s relationship to the painting.
In The Sleeping Venus, the viewer is immersed in a candid scene. They could have just stumbled
upon a woman napping outdoors. This can’t be said about The Venus of Urbino. First,
we’re in her room, or maybe she’s in ours, and she’s staring at us. Unlike the Sleeping Venus,
her displayed nudity isn’t an accident: she’s aware of it and it doesn’t seem to bother her.
This leads us to the infamous left hand. In both cases, speculation has been on whether this hand
was used to hide the subject’s genitalia or for masturbation. The Sleeping Venus could very well
be concealing her vulva, as she would do in, for example, The Birth of Venus by Sandro Botticelli.
The fact that she’s sleeping kind of rules out the idea that she might be masturbating and,
even if she was, we can’t really hold her accountable since she’s asleep.
As for The Venus of Urbino, it’s harder to tell what she’s doing. If she was ashamed
of her nudity and did try to hide herself, she’s not trying very hard. At the very least,
you’d see shame in her face. But when we look at her, we have to rule out the idea
that she’s prudish. She really doesn’t seem to mind us looking at her naked. But does this mean
she’s masturbating? To answer that question, we have to understand why this painting was made.
One thing we know for certain is that a man named Guidobaldo II della Rovere,
who’d become the Duke of Urbino, acquired the artwork from Titian in 1538. But there are many
theories as to why this painting was made. One of them is that this woman is a venetian
courtesan and Guidobaldo simply fell in love with her portrait and bought it. Another theory,
which, to me, sounds the most plausible, is that this painting was actually commissioned
by Guidobaldo for his 1534 marriage, and there are many hints supporting this theory.
First, the woman is holding roses, which, of course symbolizes love. There’s also,
at her feet, a dog, symbolizing fidelity and loyalty which are characteristics associated to
a wife. Another clue which supports the idea that this painting celebrates a wedding is the fact
that the two servants in the background are going through a cassone chest, which is a traditional
marriage chest given to a bride. Finally, the dog is most likely Guidobaldo’s family dog. It
makes another appearance in a portrait Titian made of Guidobaldo’s mother, Eleonora Gonzaga,
made around the same time. This supports the idea that this painting was commissioned.
The disposition of the blankets on which the woman is laying could also
have meaning. The red bed is covered with a white blanket, which would mean, for a wife,
that a veil of purity should be masking passion and desire. This is sending the message that a
good wife should remain pure and innocent in public, while, in bed, she should be amorous.
All of this reinforces the idea that this painting is related to Guidobaldo’s wedding; but how?
Well this painting could have had a specific purpose. It could have been
a guide on how to be a good wife. Something I haven’t mentioned is that Guidobaldo’s wife,
Giulia Varano, was only ten years old when she got married. This painting could
have been an illustrated guide to help Varano understand her new wifely duties.
The Venus of Urbino was therefore intended to be looked at in private, not in a gallery. In
that case, the young wife in this painting would be looking at her husband. The reason for her
shameless nudity in the presence of a viewer isn’t because she’s a courtesan, but because the viewer
is her husband. The retreated blanket at the corner of her bed could either be an invitation to
join her, or it could be showing that her husband, in this case, the viewer, just left the bed.
Finally, we have to answer the question: Is she masturbating?
There was a common belief in Renaissance Italy that women needed to reach orgasm in order to
become pregnant and, in noble families, producing an heir was extremely important. Masturbation,
which was of course strongly socially prohibited, was only acceptable if it could help a woman reach
orgasm after sleeping with her husband. In this case, we can assume that the subject’s
husband just left the bed and that she might be masturbating in order to get pregnant.
The Venus of Urbino is extremely powerful, so powerful in fact,
that it transcended it’s original purpose. It’s such a strong image that, not only did it get
shifted from being a private image to a public image, but it also became iconic. But what really
demonstrates this painting’s influence, is its ability, throughout the ages, to inspire some
of the greatest artists in history and develop a whole new kind of subject: the reclining nude.
If you enjoyed this video, you might also enjoy the one we made on Sylvia Sleigh where she makes
a critical analysis of the nude! Special thanks to Isaac and every other patron for
supporting us! If you also want to support us, check us out on patreon.com/thecanvas