Venus or Fortune

This female nude is standing with her curvaceously swinging hips in a stylishly balanced contrapposto, so that she affords a harmonious silhouette no matter which side she is viewed from. Her head is turned to her left, toward her upraised arm; in her left hand she once held some attribute that would have made identification of the figure easy. It was once speculated that the missing object was a mirror, in which she was admiring herself. In that case, she would be Venus, goddess of beauty and love. But the tiny, delicate holes drilled in her hands indicate that she was probably holding a cloth, secured with wires, which would have billowed out behind her back like a sail. A cloth of this sort is typically associated with depictions of Fortune. Although the globe, on which the capricious goddess of fortune balances as she directs its destiny, is missing, her origins should be sought in a similar context nonetheless. Unlike nudes of the early Renaissance, this Berlin figure impresses with her courtly elegance. The ability to be viewed from all sides and the flowing body form reflect mannerist tendencies originating in Late Renaissance Italy, which the goldsmith and medal artist Christoph Weiditz would have been exposed to while working at the court of Charles V.