Joseph Werner the Younger

Exquisite and gemlike, this beautiful cabinet miniature showcases Joseph Werner’s mastery of the medium and his skills in portraying a mythological narrative. Reclining, in the Venus Pudica pose, to the right of the composition, is the magnificent Venus. Approaching the goddess is a flushed cupid, carrying, in his rolled up garments, more fruit to bestow on Venus, who is already surrounded by a sumptuous array of grapes and other delicacies. The protagonists are nestled beside a classical plinth and an urn in a rich and picturesque landscape, rendered in fabulous blues and greens. The combination of colours is typical of the artist’s miniatures, skillfully combining gray-greens and browns in the central landscape and strong cobalt blues in the distant mountains.

Although Joseph Werner's surviving oeuvre is small, in range his works can vary from miniatures of the utmost refinement to decorative works on a large scale. After a long sojourn in Italy, he became best known as a miniaturist, in which capacity he worked for Louis XIV, typically rendering his models in classical guise.

It is possible that this work is the lost miniature mentioned by Nagler in his Neues Allgemeines Kunstler Lexikon (see Literature): In 1775, the Elector of Bavaria paid 300 fl (gilders) for a naked Venus painted in miniature.