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 c. wood and gilded stucco frame, with "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 Madame Eliska Fucikova. At least two of his important works are now internationally renowned: "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 this is the same model (mouth, nose, eyes). -2) The techniques used to depict the hair, jewels 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 June 1, 1989. The court of Rudolf II An enlightened art lover and passionate collector, Rudolf II attracted many artists to his court: painters Arcimboldo, Bartholomeus Spranger, Hans von Aachen, Joseph Heinz, landscape artist Roelandt Savery, miniaturist Joris Hoefnagel, who specialized in botanical and zoological representations, sculptor Adriaen de Vries and many others, goldsmiths, armorers, but also men of science like Kleper. During his travels, these 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. This thirst for knowledge, which often took on elitist, even Hermetic, overtones, combined with the highly intellectualized eroticism of many works of art, is particularly characteristic of this key moment in European artistic consciousness, which also represented a fragile moment of interfaith 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 courtly grandees, designed to show off the aristocratic person. Women are shown with idealized 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 comparable in composition and in which the portrait of a lady from the Ruini family is 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.