6 thoughts on “Andrea Sacchi: Il riposo di Venere”
I am curious about how you obtained this image. The painting belongs to the Hermitage and has only recently been cleaned & exhibited. It’s a rare choice as neither the artist nor this work are at all well known.
Good, I did not know it was available there. But why did YOU like it?
Ann [who wrote a book about Sacchi long ago and had only seen this work in bad photographs and rejected it; it’s certainly right if unusual for him.]
Interesting. It is an obvious masterpiece, I think, and it also seems to me it has an element of compositional originality, with the empty chariot so obviously at the centre, and Venus so far down in the corner.
Thank you for responding. I am always interested in responses to older art from smart non-professionals. It’s certainly original for Sacchi, and was made early when he was studying with Francesco Albani, or soon afterwards. Albani did a lot of landscapes of this kind. If you know some of them, Sacchi’s originality is already apparent.
One of my grandfathers was a Swedish painter who lived in Göteborg, Filip Wahlström, who would spend money on art books even when the taxes were not paid! He knew Ivar Arosenius, whose work should also be better known, and many other Swedish artists, of course. Hence thus my interest in a Swede who likes older Italian art, though Morfar preferred Giotto and Fra Angelico to anything 17th century, and Turner above all.
If you click the Painting category in the sidebar, you will find other obvious masterpieces, among them one iconographically similar but not identical by Albani, a Toilet of Venus. You can also find them on the Contents page, with links, if you scroll down to Painting.
I am now reading about your morfar and looking at images of some of his works. If I had been a Gothenburger, I would have been familiar with him.
Jan Olof Bengtsson 
I am curious about how you obtained this image. The painting belongs to the Hermitage and has only recently been cleaned & exhibited. It’s a rare choice as neither the artist nor this work are at all well known.
At Wikimedia Commons:
Good, I did not know it was available there. But why did YOU like it?
Ann [who wrote a book about Sacchi long ago and had only seen this work in bad photographs and rejected it; it’s certainly right if unusual for him.]
Interesting. It is an obvious masterpiece, I think, and it also seems to me it has an element of compositional originality, with the empty chariot so obviously at the centre, and Venus so far down in the corner.
Thank you for responding. I am always interested in responses to older art from smart non-professionals. It’s certainly original for Sacchi, and was made early when he was studying with Francesco Albani, or soon afterwards. Albani did a lot of landscapes of this kind. If you know some of them, Sacchi’s originality is already apparent.
One of my grandfathers was a Swedish painter who lived in Göteborg, Filip Wahlström, who would spend money on art books even when the taxes were not paid! He knew Ivar Arosenius, whose work should also be better known, and many other Swedish artists, of course. Hence thus my interest in a Swede who likes older Italian art, though Morfar preferred Giotto and Fra Angelico to anything 17th century, and Turner above all.
Best wishes, and no need to respond further.
Ann
Dear Ann,
If you click the Painting category in the sidebar, you will find other obvious masterpieces, among them one iconographically similar but not identical by Albani, a Toilet of Venus. You can also find them on the Contents page, with links, if you scroll down to Painting.
I am now reading about your morfar and looking at images of some of his works. If I had been a Gothenburger, I would have been familiar with him.
V. best,
Jan Olof