PLEASE NOTE: This original painting is available to purchase. Please contact Dina directly via the 'Contact' page or email daperejogina@talktalk.net to discuss payment options.
This painting is the female counterpart to my painting 'Mars' ~ Male and female classical large-scale heads to be hung as a pair, side by side. This is 'Venus', a painting of the Venus de' Medici or Medici Venus, a Hellenistic marble sculpture depicting the Greek goddess of love Aphrodite. This painting has been a work in progress for many months, perfecting each detail of the marble using Oils. The use of Oils here is my special touch to create the detailing and richness in the glow of the background.
The background composition is one of my signature style, classical and yet bold using red, with extra depth to compliment the sculpture's portrait. The use of red in this portrait is of significance and in reference to roses particularly associated with Aphrodite, the goddess of love, also symbolised in 'An Allegory with Venus and Time' by Domenico Piola. In this allegory, Time, with his hourglass, presents Venus, the goddess of love, with a mature rose, as if to remind her that earthly love is as fleeting as a rose’s bloom. In response, Venus reveals her higher identity as a symbol of enduring spiritual love and divine beauty. One legend tells that the first roses sprang from her tears while another says that it was a gift for gods to celebrate her rising from the sea. Yet another story goes that the rose was originally white, but became red when the goddess pricked her feet on the thorns as she sought her slain lover. The background also drew inspiration from Venus itself, the second planet from the Sun. It is named after the Roman goddess of love and beauty.
This sculpture has become one of the navigation points by which the progress of the Western classical tradition is traced, the references to it outline the changes of taste and the process of classical scholarship, and so in turn plays an integral part in my own passion for classical sculpture painting.
'Venus'
Size: 40" x 40" ~ Approximately 102 x 102cm
Original painting medium Acrylic (Old Holland Acrylic) on Linen Canvas stretched on to a Museum quality pine stretcher bars.
Please email me if you'r interested to purchase this original painting. Email: daperejogina@talktalk.net