Birth of Venus Antique Art Print ~ Bougereau

Antique Goupil & Cie. photogravure art print from the picture by Adolphe William Bougereau.

Printed on mid-weight ivory colored stock. Reverse side is blank.

Title: The Birth of Venus

Publication: The Masterpieces of French Art

Publication Year: 1883

Approximate Page Size (in inches): 11 x 14

Approximate Image Size (in inches): 7 x 9¾

Condition: Very good with some light foxing. Atticpaper.com watermark does not appear on actual print.

Greatest among the great paintings of the year 1879, was Bouguereau's Birth of Venus.

Of Venus, the goddess of love and beauty of the Romans, identical with Aphrodite of Olympia, tradition says that she sprung from the foam of the sea. According to Hesiod, the goddess, after rising from the foam, first approached the island of Cythera, and thence went to Cyprus, and as she was walking on the sea-coast, flowers sprung up under her feet, and Eros and Himeros accompanied her to the assembly of the other great gods. According to the Cosmozonic view of the nature of Venus (or Aphrodite) she was the personification of the generative powers of nature, and the mother of all living beings.

The surrounding Nymphs and Cupids are, of course, the privileged license of the poet and painter.