Venus and Cupid with a Satyr

Correggio's Venus and Cupid with a Satyr, painted around 1526-1528, depicts the sleeping goddess of love spied upon by a leering satyr. The painting's eroticism, disguised by its mythological subject, reflects the sophisticated taste of its probable patron, Federico II Gonzaga of Mantua Oil on canvas, increasingly preferred over panel in the sixteenth century, offered greater flexibility for large-scale compositions It is now held at The Louvre in Paris, one of the world's largest and most visi

Correggio's mastery of luminous flesh painting reaches extraordinary heights here, with the sleeping Venus's soft, radiant skin contrasting with the darker, rougher satyr in a masterclass of sensuous oil technique.