TIZIANO Vecellio
(b. 1490, Pieve di Cadore, d. 1576, Venezia)

Venus with a Mirror

c. 1555
Oil on canvas, 125 x 106 cm
National Gallery of Art, Washington

Though almost in profile, Venus shows her awareness of the spectator in the teasing fragment of her reflection in the mirror where she appears looking directly out. X-rays show that her cloak is a reworking of that worn by a male sitter in a double portrait underneath which Titian partially erased and painted over.