|This discrepancy has been termed the "Venus effect" by researchers of the University of Liverpool, who argue that "since the viewer sees her face in the mirror, Venus is actually looking at the reflection of the viewer." Nonetheless, despite that her face is indeed turned as if looking at the viewer's reflection, weak but noticeable corneal reflections painted on her eyes indicate a direction of gaze not towards the viewers but rather away from them. It is as if Venus were gazing in the direction of what would have been her own reflection on the mirror were the discrepancy not to exist (her corneal reflections can be seen with the magnification tool on the right of the painting's image here). With her eyes to the right, the scene's illumination, which comes exclusively from the top left, could not produce such reflections on her corneas; it seems parsimonious that Velázquez —a master painter most unlikely to have erred on where to place reflections— created on purpose a scene that could not exist. Given this conflicting duality, it is noteworthy the main webpage of the National Gallery about the Rokeby Venus describes her as looking "both at herself and at the viewer" (even though she is described as "returning our gaze" in another Gallery webpage, Focus painting for February 2010نسخة محفوظة 4 فبراير 2011 في Wayback Machine, retrieved on 27 September 2010).
seacex.com
Portús p. 63 claims the year 1673, but this appears to be an error. The chapter "Nudes" in Spanish Painting From El Greco to Picasso (PDF), Sociedad Estatal para la Acción Cultural Exterior (SEACEX), Retrieved on 16 March 2008, which refers to his research and also covers this topic, says 1632, and mentions references to the work by various other writers before 1673, including فرانسيسكو باتشيكو ديل ريو, died 1644, in his Arte de Pintura. نسخة محفوظة 2019-01-29 في Wayback Machine
timesonline.co.uk
entertainment.timesonline.co.uk
"And when Manet painted his Olympia in 1863, and changed the course of modern art by provoking the mother of all art scandals with her, to whom was he paying homage? Manet’s Olympia is the Rokeby Venus brought up to date — a whore descended from a goddess." Waldemar Januszczak, Times Online (8 October 2006). Still sexy after all these years. Retrieved on 14 March 2008. نسخة محفوظة 2011-05-17 في Wayback Machine
|This discrepancy has been termed the "Venus effect" by researchers of the University of Liverpool, who argue that "since the viewer sees her face in the mirror, Venus is actually looking at the reflection of the viewer." Nonetheless, despite that her face is indeed turned as if looking at the viewer's reflection, weak but noticeable corneal reflections painted on her eyes indicate a direction of gaze not towards the viewers but rather away from them. It is as if Venus were gazing in the direction of what would have been her own reflection on the mirror were the discrepancy not to exist (her corneal reflections can be seen with the magnification tool on the right of the painting's image here). With her eyes to the right, the scene's illumination, which comes exclusively from the top left, could not produce such reflections on her corneas; it seems parsimonious that Velázquez —a master painter most unlikely to have erred on where to place reflections— created on purpose a scene that could not exist. Given this conflicting duality, it is noteworthy the main webpage of the National Gallery about the Rokeby Venus describes her as looking "both at herself and at the viewer" (even though she is described as "returning our gaze" in another Gallery webpage, Focus painting for February 2010نسخة محفوظة 4 فبراير 2011 في Wayback Machine, retrieved on 27 September 2010).
Portús p. 63 claims the year 1673, but this appears to be an error. The chapter "Nudes" in Spanish Painting From El Greco to Picasso (PDF), Sociedad Estatal para la Acción Cultural Exterior (SEACEX), Retrieved on 16 March 2008, which refers to his research and also covers this topic, says 1632, and mentions references to the work by various other writers before 1673, including فرانسيسكو باتشيكو ديل ريو, died 1644, in his Arte de Pintura. نسخة محفوظة 2019-01-29 في Wayback Machine
"And when Manet painted his Olympia in 1863, and changed the course of modern art by provoking the mother of all art scandals with her, to whom was he paying homage? Manet’s Olympia is the Rokeby Venus brought up to date — a whore descended from a goddess." Waldemar Januszczak, Times Online (8 October 2006). Still sexy after all these years. Retrieved on 14 March 2008. نسخة محفوظة 2011-05-17 في Wayback Machine
