Planet Venus was at least since the late middle-age period depicted as a beautiful young maiden, such as in a 14th century fresco made by the Italian artist Guariento di Arpo. The German painter Jörg Breu the Elder represented the planet Venus in the form of a gorgeous naked young woman riding a golden chariot in the sky in his painting “Roundel of the Planet Venus and her Children”, c. 1520-30. Frederik Valckenborch painted “Depiction of the planet Venus”, 1619. In that painting the planet Venus appears as a copper statue of an erotic nude woman with a statue of Eros by her side and surrounded by a group of musicians.
Visions of the planet Venus as a maiden in the sky remained unchangeable in the 19th century. In John Flaxman’s illustration “The Planet Venus”, 1807, for Dante’s The Divine Comedy, this planet appears as an elegantly dressed young lady with a crown and sword, accompanied by 12 spirits, and greeted by Dante and Beatrice. Venus is again depicted as a young beautiful lady wearing a nice black dress standing on a cloud in the color engraving made by Grandville for the book Une autre monde, 1844. Luis Falero painted “The Planet Venus” in 1882, in which the goddess Venus is shown floating in the heavens in front of a waxing crescent moon and accompanied by four putti.
Vincent van Gogh was fascinated by this planet. He portrayed Venus in his famous 1889 painting ”The Starry Night”. Venus also appeared in his paintings ”White House at Night” and “Road with Cypress and Star” 1890, which might reflect his feeling that he would soon die.
The planet Venus reappears as a beautiful young lady in Evelyn De Morgan’s painting “Evening Star over the Sea”, 1914, in which she is depicted with red hair in a gorgeous blue dress floating in front of the bright multi-coloured Sun.
Modern artistic paintings of Venus often depict this planet in a dramatic mood with bright colours as a fantastic world of aliens, strange animals, marvelous landscapes, and unavoidable erotic women, such as in the artwork made by Yüksel Aydın, Catherine De Bosscher and Daniel Miller.
