Venus staat op waterkant en wringt water uit haar haar Possibly 1506 - 1511

Marcantonio Raimondi made this engraving of Venus wringing water from her hair in Italy sometime between 1500 and 1534. We see a classical goddess, but Raimondi was actually one of the first printmakers to reproduce paintings and drawings, and was famous for disseminating the designs of Raphael. Renaissance artists looked to classical antiquity for inspiration, but their interpretations were always filtered through the lens of their own cultural and social context. Venus, for example, was a symbol of beauty and love, but she was also associated with fertility and abundance. In a time when the Church was a central institution, this image subtly challenged the Church's authority by offering an alternative vision of beauty and the body. To understand the significance of this image fully, we can look at how it circulated at the time and consider how copies and reproductions changed the place of art in society.