Venus with a Mirror

Titian painted this sensuous Venus around 1555, when he was in his sixties and at the height of his powers. The goddess of love gazes into a mirror held by two cupids while a third drapes her in a fur-lined red cloak. The image became one of his most copied compositions.

Titian's mastery of flesh tones and textures is on full display. The warm glow of Venus's skin, the cool gleam of pearls and gold, the softness of fur and velvet are rendered with a freedom of brushwork that anticipates painters centuries later.

The painting was once owned by the Russian Tsars and hung in the Hermitage before it was sold to Andrew Mellon in 1931. It is now among the most prized Renaissance paintings at the National Gallery of Art.