Sleeping Venus (Giorgione)

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Sleeping Venus

Giorgione, c. 1501

oil on canvas

108,5 × 175 cm

Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Dresden

The Sleeping Venus, also known as Dresden Madonna, is an influential painting by the Italian Renaissance master Giorgione, c. 1501. It is housed in the Gemäldegalerie, Dresden.

The painting, one of the last Giorgione's works, portrays a naked woman whose profile seems to follow that of the hills in the background. Giorgione put a great attention in painting the background details and shadows. The choice of a naked woman marked a revolution in art, and is considered by some authorities one of the starting points of modern art.

It was unfinished at the time of his death and the sky was later finished by Titian. (Titian also painted a similar Venus, but it is not as agitated and unsettled as Giorgione's nude.)

Underlying erotic implications can be seen by the Venus' raised arm (the exposed arm pit a symbol of sexuality) and the placement of her left hand on her groin. The sheets are a silver color (a cold color rather than a more commonly used warm tone) and they are rigid looking (in comparison to Titian's or Velázquez's Venus'). The landscape mimic the curves of the nude and this in turn relates the human body back to a natural, organic object.

The contemplative attitude towards nature and beauty of the figure is typical of Giorgione. The composition influenced later painters such as Titian, Rubens and Ingres.