Venus Bathing (Innocence) 1810

"Venus Bathing (Innocence)," painted by Pierre-Paul Prud'hon, is made with oil paints on canvas – materials now strongly associated with fine art, but that started as ingredients painstakingly prepared and applied. Prud'hon was celebrated for his sensual handling of paint, a softness achieved through careful blending. This would have required considerable labor, mixing pigments and oils to achieve just the right consistency and tone, and then applying them in layers to build up the forms. Look closely, and you can see how the materiality of the oil paint lends a luminous quality to Venus's skin, and a hazy atmosphere to the forest setting. The very smoothness of the surface is testament to Prud'hon's skill. Consider also the social context. The production of oil paintings in this era depended on a complex network of trade, from the mining of pigments to the weaving of canvas. Prud'hon's artistry was therefore deeply enmeshed with the economic realities of his time, reflecting a transformation of labor into art. It reminds us that even the most ethereal of images are grounded in material and social conditions.