A dated letter
We know exactly when this picture changed hands: a letter dated 1538 records that Guidobaldo II della Rovere bought it directly from Titian.
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Venus of Urbino
Titian · 1538
painting
NudityRead the context
A surviving letter records Guidobaldo II della Rovere’s purchase of this painting directly from Titian in 1538. The picture now belongs to the Uffizi. That document establishes a transaction; it does not settle every reading of the image.
Details
Titian also painted Eleonora Gonzaga, Guidobaldo’s mother. Her portrait and this Venus connect through the same family, offering two different kinds of picture made by the painter for that household.
In its time
1538
Books from this period
Where it hangs
Uffizi Gallery
Artist Titian Bought 1538 Collection Uffizi Gallery, Florence Companion portrait Eleonora Gonzaga
In context
Portraits for one household
In these same years Titian was also painting Eleonora Gonzaga, the duke's mother, evidence of how steadily this Venetian workshop supplied one ducal family with pictures.
Its home in Florence
The Venus of Urbino hangs today in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, the same museum that holds Titian's portrait of Eleonora Gonzaga.
The story
Titian paints the Venus of Urbino.
1538. Guidobaldo II della Rovere buys the picture directly from Titian, as a dated letter records.
In these same years, Titian also paints Eleonora Gonzaga, the duke's mother.
Today it hangs in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence.
Provenance
A picture's provenance, the paper trail of who owned it and when, can be as solid as its paint and canvas. A letter dated 1538 fixes the moment this Venus left Titian's studio for Guidobaldo II della Rovere's collection, which is why historians can date it with such confidence.
