About this work
This work was produced by Jean-Baptiste Regnault towards the end of his highly successful career as one of the foremost artists working in France during the turbulent years of the French Revolution and the rise of Napoleon. In La Toilette de Vénus, the artist uses a theme from classical mythology as a pretext for indulging his love of painting the female nude. Regnault’s sensuous confection, which presents an erotic subject at the scale – and with the impact – of a history painting, creates an air of an elaborate private fantasy.