3-097-566 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

The Birth of Venus, 1860. Venus, according to Roman mythology, goddess of love and beauty, born from the sea foam. The work is described in the Catalogue of the National Exhibition of Fine Arts of 1860 with the following fragment: "On a shell, held by a triton, the goddess of Love is seen among the foaming waves drying her hair, from which pearls fall, which a nereid gathers in a mother-of-pearl shell: several cherubs surround her, frolicking in the waters on dolphins, and leaping where the goddess is. One of them crowns her with myrtle and rose, which are sacred to her. Above her head shines a star. (Composition inspired by a poem by His Excellency Mr. Francisco Martínez de la Rosa)."