Venus water scheppend met een schelp 1678

Johann Jakob Thurneysen made this print of Venus drawing water with a shell sometime in the 17th century. The goddess Venus was the Roman deity of love, beauty, and prosperity. The iconography of this mythological figure was deployed in northern Europe in the 17th century to signal the patron’s access to ancient, and specifically Italian, culture. To possess art that referenced the classical world was a sign of elite status. This interest was driven by institutions such as academies and collecting societies which encouraged the study of ancient culture. But the image also tells us about the status of women. How does the male gaze operate in the representation of women? What ideas of femininity does the image promote? These are important questions for the social historian. To understand this print fully, we can investigate the records of museums, galleries and art schools that promoted this artistic style. We should look at the economic conditions that enabled art collecting. Art is never made in a vacuum; it always reflects social conditions and power relationships.