Getty Museum
The Toilette of Venus (91.GB.66)
Creator
Joseph Heintz the ElderSwiss Artist · 1564–1609
All works by this person →Joseph Heintz received his early training from a painter and from his father, an architect-mason. From 1584 to around 1591, Heintz was in Italy, where he joined a circle of German and Netherlandish artists in Rome. He also studied ancient art and copied paintings by Renaissance artists such as Raphael, Michelangelo, and Polidoro da Caravaggio. In 1587 he traveled to Florence and Venice, absorbing
More on Getty ULAN- Date
- 1594
- Medium
- Red and black chalk
- Culture
- Swiss
- Department
- Drawings
- Institution
- Getty Museum
- Object ID
- 25bf976e-b4cd-47b8-a155-be68c2440e99
From the Getty Museum record
In a shadowy boudoir scene with a theatrically parted canopy, Venus combs her hair before a mirror held by Cupid. Rather than detailing her facial features, Joseph Heintz the Elder focused attention on the goddess's unusual pose, displaying her elongated back in an extended curve, slightly twisted in the Mannerist fashion. Employing a distinctive use of chalk, Heintz recalled the works of Michelangelo in his refined modeling of nudes in smoothly modulated chalks. During two trips to Italy, the Swiss artist had assimilated a variety of Italian drawing techniques. He probably made this sketch during his second voyage south in 1592. His employer, the Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II, had sent Heintz there to sketch antiquities and to acquire works of art for the imperial collection.
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