The Birth of Venus

Rubens made this as the design for a piece of royal silver. In about 1632 or 1633 he drew up a large oval basin for Charles I of England, and the Antwerp silversmith Theodore Rogiers cast it, together with a matching ewer. The subject suits a dish meant to hold water. Venus steps from her shell onto the shore of Cyprus, wringing seawater from her hair, and as the basin was drained she would have emerged little by little. Around the rim Rubens sketched Neptune and his wife at the top, nymphs on dolphins, children riding seahorses, and at the bottom Cupid and Psyche in an embrace. The whole design is laid in with black chalk and pale oil, in browns and greys. Neither piece of silver survives. Both are known from a print that Jacob Neeffs made in 1660.