Venus Surrounded by Nymphs Observing a Dance of Cupids

This 1716 Venus Surrounded by Nymphs at the Louvre exemplifies the mythological subjects that were Ricci's particular specialty, painted the year of his departure from England after a productive five-year stay. The sensuous treatment of the Venus theme — the goddess of love surrounded by her attendants in a state of undress — reflected both Venetian painting's traditional ease with the sensuous female nude and the broader European decorative taste for mythological subjects in aristocratic interiors. The Louvre's substantial Venetian Baroque holdings provide context for this Venus among the French royal collection's accumulation of Italian painting from the Renaissance through the eighteenth century.

The mythological scene is rendered with Ricci's luminous flesh tones and shimmering draperies, the composition orchestrating multiple figures in a flowing arrangement that anticipates the Rococo decorative manner.