Sleeping Venus with Cupid, Alessandro Varotari, il Padovanino (1588 -1649) Workshop

Alessandro Varotari, known as Padovanino (Padua, 1588 – Venice, 1649) Workshop of

Sleeping Venus with Cupid

Oil on canvas (90 x 145 – Framed 114 x 168 cm.)

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The iconography of the Sleeping Venus is one of the most fascinating, sensual, and successful themes of 16th-century Venetian Renaissance painting, representing the perfect fusion between classical myth and the celebration of feminine beauty.

It is in this artistic context that the female nude becomes the absolute protagonist of the painting, like that of our sinuous Venus, absorbed in sleep and stretched out on a bed of soft white pillows and red drapes, a combination of colors with an immediately symbolic value that together create a perfect balance between spiritual love and carnal passion, praising the concept of ideal love.

Her pale, luminous complexion stands out sharply from the shadowy background, immediately drawing the viewer's gaze. She wears only strings of pearls around her arms and in her hair, traditional symbols of purity and attributes of regal beauty. Next to Venus's left hand is a richly decorated golden casket or container, a possible allusion to the goddess's jewels or secrets.

Behind him, half-hidden in the shadows of a sumptuous canopy, Cupid, the small god of Love, emerges, looking at the viewer, raising a finger to his mouth in the classic gesture of silence to protect the divinity's sleep.

During the Renaissance, paintings of the Sleeping Venus were often commissioned as wedding gifts to celebrate aristocratic unions, and such works served as a wish for married life. The presence of Cupid poised to shoot his arrow was therefore a crucial element, alluding to the moment when two hearts are struck and inextricably united, symbolizing fidelity and understanding.

In the background, a vast and evocative landscape of hills and mountains opens up, with small rural buildings and a slender bell tower, typical of the Venetian tradition (influenced by Giorgione and Titian) which seeks harmony between man and nature.

If we now look at the style of the composition, with its accentuated chiaroscuro, where the light vigorously shapes the soft forms of the goddess, and the fusion between the mythological element and the vastness of the natural landscape, it powerfully echoes the great lesson of 16th-century Venetian painting; in particular, among the absolute founders of the visual canon of the Sleeping Venus are Giorgione, who paints the nude goddess, asleep in the open air, perfectly integrated into a hilly landscape (Sleeping Venus, 1507-1510, Gemäldegalerie, Dresden) and even more so Titian, the author of a revolution that introduced the concept of sensuality into painting for the first time (Venus of Urbino, 1538, Uffizi, Florence).

The commissions from powerful lords and sovereigns of the time such as the Este family, the Gonzaga family and the Spanish royals, interested in recreating in their private sphere a mythical world populated by sensual female nudity, pushed Titian to inaugurate a genre characterised by an intense and elegant eroticism.

There could be a third name, that of Paris Bordone, and his Sleeping Venus with Cupid (dated 1550-1555) in the Giorgio Franchetti Gallery at the Ca' d'Oro in Venice, which celebrates the goddess immersed in a hilly landscape, blending the harmony of nature with the typical shaded colours of the Venetian school (https://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/html/b%2Fbordone%2Fsleep_ve.html ).

In relation to the latter, we can mention a painting practically identical to the one proposed here, once in the Baumgärtner Collection, passed to Lempertz of Cologne (21 May, 2016, Lot 1316*), and in the past attributed to Bordone himself.
*Old Masters Auction, Lempertz, Cologne, 21 May, 2016, Lot 1316, Estimate 40,000 – 45,000 EUR
https://www.lempertz.com/en/catalogues/lot/1067-1/1316-italian-school-c-1660venetian-school.html

Here too, the work stands out for its fusion of classical perfection of the figure with a strong erotic and contemplative charge, closely resembling Titian's models. But, upon closer inspection of the composition and stylistic details, we are inclined to discern nuances that point us toward another great exponent of the early 17th-century Venetian tradition.

In our opinion, it is in fact a beautiful work from the workshop of Alessandro Varotari, known as Padovanino (Padua, 1588 – Venice, 1649), of which it presents the typical full forms, the soft and luminous complexion and the warm palette that Varotari borrowed directly from his in-depth study of Titian's masterpieces.

His Venuses became very famous among 17th-century collectors for their ability to revive the chromatic sensuality of the previous century.

Padovanino was in fact the main architect of the revival of Venetian painting in the early seventeenth century: in an era dominated by the Baroque and Caravaggism, he deliberately chose to look back, going to Rome to copy the masterpieces of the Venetian Renaissance (especially Titian's Bacchanalia and Venuses).

In his works, in addition to the influence of Titian, we can see his attention to architectural settings inspired by Veronese and, over the years, the dynamism of Palma the Younger. His formal elegance and pictorial softness are enhanced in the mythological scenes characterized by sensual and classicizing nudes, and for this reason we are inclined to attribute the painting presented here to him.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

The work comes with a pleasant frame and is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity and a descriptive iconographic sheet.

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