aphrodite & venus + art

MWW Artwork of the Day (4/11/24) Walter Crane (British, 1845–1915) The Renaissance of Venus (1877) Tempera on canvas, 138.4 x 184.1 cm. The Tate Gallery, London

Walter Crane was an English artist and book illustrator. He is considered to be the most influential, and among the most prolific, children’s book creators of his generation. Crane's work featured some of the more colorful and detailed beginnings of the child-in-the-garden motifs that would characterize many nursery rhymes and children's stories for decades to come. He was part of the Arts and Crafts movement and produced an array of paintings, illustrations, children's books, ceramic tiles and other decorative arts. Crane is also remembered for his creation of a number of iconic images associated with the international Socialist movement.

Walter T. Crane - The Renaissance of Venus (1877)

Walter Crane "The Renaissance of Venus" 1877

The Renaissance of Venus (Walter Crane) 1877

The Renaissance of Venus by Walter Crane (1877)

The Renaissance of Venus, 1877, Walter Crane (1845-1915).

The Renaissance of Venus ~ 1877 ~ Walter Crane (English artist, 1845-1915)

Walter Crane (British, 1845–1915)

The Renaissance of Venus,1877

Tempera on canvas

Walter Crane   La Renaissance de Venus

The Renaissance of Venus  Walter Crane, 1877

“...the artist Frederic Leighton remarked upon seeing the painting, ‘But my dear fellow, that is not Aphrodite - that is Alessandro.’ Leighton was referring to Alessandro de Marco, one of the most successful male artists’ models.” - Queer British Art

MWW Artwork of the Day (1/29/23) Walter Crane (British, 1845–1915) The Mirror of Venus, or L'Art et Vie (c. 1890) Watercolor & gouache, 35.4 x 25.4 cm. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (Elisha Whittelsey Collection)

As a wood-engraver Crane had abundant opportunity for the minute study of the contemporary artists whose work passed through his hands, of Pre-Raphaelites Dante Gabriel Rossetti and John Everett Millais, as well as Alice in Wonderland illustrator Sir John Tenniel and Frederick Sandys. He was a student who admired the masters of the Italian Renaissance, however he was more influenced by the Elgin marbles in the British Museum. A further and important element in the development of his talent was the study of Japanese colour-prints, the methods of which he imitated in a series of toy books, which started a new fashion.

More of this artist's work is included in this MWW exhibit/gallery: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1574253829346647&type=3

Edward Burne-Jones (1833-1898), Alessandro Di Marco, pencil on paper

“Alessandro di Marco was a former organ-grinder from Piedmont in Italy who appears to have first modelled for Frederic Leighton as a small child in Rome in 1853 for Cimabue's Madonna (Royal Collection, on long-term loan to the National Gallery, London) and seems to have made his way to the ateliers of Paris. William Blake Richmond described him as; '... a man who seemed to stride out from Signorelli's grand frescoes... a fellow so graceful and of such a colour, a kind of bronze gold, having a skin of so fine a texture that the movement of every muscle was not disguised, not a film of fat disfigured his shapely limbs. Only a peasant, people say! Yes--but of a race of Kings--so noble he looked.' (Simon Reynolds, William Blake Richmond, p.45) By the late 1860s he was modelling in London for Richmond, Poynter, Leighton, Legros, Solomon and the photographer Julia Margaret Cameron. He was also the model for a beautiful drawing of Dante for Dante’s Dream by Rossetti (sold in these rooms, 14 July 2016, lot 17) but perhaps his most remarkable appearance was as the principal figure in The Renaissance of Venus (Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool) by Walter Crane, whose wife forbid him to study female models. Principal pictures by Burne-Jones for which Alessandro is believed to have sat include The Beguiling of Merlin of 1872-7 (Lady Lever Art Gallery, Port Sunlight) and Love Among the Ruins(Christie's, London, 11 July 2013, lot 3) with which the present drawing has been associated. However the study seems more likely to be for The Pilgrim at the Gate of Idleness (Dallas Museum of Art) completed in 1884 as one of the series of pictures illustrating the story of the Romaunt of the Rose.” - Sotheby’s 

'The Renaissance of Venus', Walter Crane, 1877 #art #venus #waltercrane

Walter-Crane-the-renaissance-of-venus-1877-

The Renaissance of Venus (Walter Crane, 1877)

Venus here was actually painted from a male model:

Venus is a trans woman confirmed