Antwerp school circa 1590, follower of Dirk de QUADE van RAVESTEYN "Venus Blindfolded by Love Oak panel, three boards, reinforced Height : 106 cm Width : 72,2 cm Old restorations, cracks and small chips Label 1162 on reverse 19th century wood and gilded stucco frame, bearing a "Van Blomaert" label (Expert : Cabinet Eric Turquin) An eminent painter at the court of Emperor Rudolf II (1576-1612) in Prague, Dirk de Quade van Ravesteyn, of Flemish origin, was rediscovered relatively recently by Mrs Eliska Fucikova. At least two of his major works now enjoy international renown: the "Sleeping Venus" (Musée des Beaux Arts de Dijon, long attributed to Titian), and its counterpart "Sleeping Nude Woman" exhibited at the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna. A comparison with the Dijon work, as well as with others currently in museums or presented at auction, gives us several grounds for satisfaction, which could lead us to believe that our "Venus blindfolding Love" is indeed by the master's hand. -1) Comparison of the facial features leads us to believe that it is the same model (mouth, nose, eyes). -2) The techniques used to depict the hair, jewellery and pearls are very similar. -3) The blindfolded lover is, to say the least, very similar to the putti in the "Allegory of Fertility" sold for €146,107 at Christie's on 1 June 1989. The court of Rudolph II An enlightened art lover and passionate collector, Rudolph II attracted many artists to his court, including the painters Arcimboldo, Bartholomeus Spranger, Hans von Aachen and Joseph Heinz, the landscape artist Roelandt Savery, the miniaturist Joris Hoefnagel, who specialised in botanical and zoological representations, the sculptor Adriaen de Vries and many others, goldsmiths and armourers, as well as scientists such as Kleper. During his travels, the artists also acted as art commission agents for the emperor, whose Wunderkammer (cabinet of curiosities) was constantly being enlarged with masterpieces of art and nature, carefully catalogued according to a complex classification system. It was this thirst for knowledge, which often took on elitist, even Hermetic, overtones, combined with the highly intellectualised eroticism of many works of art, that particularly characterised this key moment in European artistic awareness, which also represented a fragile moment of inter-confessional equilibrium before the storms of the Thirty Years' War. The trend towards courtly Venuses at the end of the 16th century This was a mode of representation of the great of the court, designed to show off the aristocratic person to best advantage. Women were shown with idealised bodies, in the image of Diana or Venus, as shown here. Our painting can be compared, for example, with the work by Lavinia Fontana (1552 - 1614) "Venus and Love" in the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Rouen, which is similar in composition and in which a portrait of a lady from the Ruini family was probably produced, as shown by a drawing with a similar face by Cristoforo dell'Altissimo in the Palazzo Pitti in Florence; perhaps this was an engagement portrait sent to the future husband.