The eighteenth-century Venetian artist Gaspare Diziani painted The Toilette of Venus when he was at the height of his creative powers. Diziani locꦉates Venus’s bower, where she lounges beside two attendants, within an arcadian landscape. Yet, the red velvet curtain that hangs at right also creates the impression that the viewer has caught a momentary glimpse of a theatrical production. (Diziani had worked as a scenery painter in the early part of his career.)

The refined mythological scene radiates a playful rococo exuberance, an effect achieved through Diziani’s fluid brushstrokes, bright palette, and charming mythological subject. The painter’s execution of the shimmering blue and pink garment worn by the kneeling woman at center is particularly vivid. And the sculptural elements underscore the jovial nature of the composition: the herm serves as a perch for the impish child playing with a bough of ivy, the large urn at right features dancing putti, and the tipped amphora in the foreground offers a clue as to what has lulled amor to sleep.