\paperw19995 \margr0\margl0 \plain \fs20 \f1 The composition is split in two diagonally by the line that runs along the upper edge of VenusÆs body.\par
Her bust is silh
ouetted against a drape of green velvet, which marks the division between the foreground and the scene in the background, where the firmly constructed perspective of the room is animated by the figures of two maidservants, who are busy looking for their
mistressÆs clothes in a painted chest.\par
TitianÆs subject was derived from one of GiorgioneÆs paintings, but he changed it so that Venus lifts her head to look at the observer, fully conscious of her own nudity and beauty. Here the prototype is given
a decidedly human touch, so that the goddess becomes a young woman, lying on an unmade bed in her luxurious home as she waits to get dressed.\par
In place of the soft subdued tones adopted by his teacher, Titian uses bright contrasting colors: the green
of the heavy drape brings out the luminous gold of the nude and the auburn color of the hair spilling onto her shoulders; the red covering of the mattresses contrasts with the white of the sheets and cushions, while the sky visible though the window is
