Oil on canvas, 42.5cm by 30.5cm.
The painting, probably purchased by Brownlow, 9th Earl of Exeter (1725-1793), as by Titian, appears in the 1763 Burghley Inventory: ‘The Japan Closet…Venus rising from ye Sea Titian.’
The mythological goddess Venus, celebrated for her exquisite beauty, was said to have emerged from the sea fully formed at birth.
