Francesco Albani was a much favoured pupil of Annibale Carracci. His success was partially due to mythological paintings such as The toilet of Venus (P1) and The judgement of Paris (P2), whose refined and lyrical view of nature helped disseminate the classical ideals of the Carracci`s landscapes. The toilet of Venus, c. 1635-40, is one of many versions Albani made of this subject (the most famous are in the Galleria Borghese, Rome, and the Musée du Louvre, Paris).

Venus reclines on a chair as three servants, possibly the Three Graces, attend to her. One carefully curls her hair, while another combs her tresses and a third shows her colleague a long pearl necklace, as though seeking her approval. As if this attention was not sufficient, five putti have momentarily shucked their quivers -placed on the ground, to the right- in order to help attend to the most beautiful of the goddesses. They perform lesser tasks, such as tying her sandals, holding a mirror up to her, or preparing combs, jewels or fresh flowers. This group of figures, as well as the fountain topped by a sculptural group at the right of the composition, are almost identical to the ones Albani painted for the The toilet of Venus now in the Musée du Louvre, which comes from a well-known set of canvases he began around 1621 for Ferdinando Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua. Disagreements with Gonzaga led Albani to continue the series for another patron, Cardinal Giovanni Carlo de Medici.

The original source of both works was Venus adorned by the Graces (National Gallery of Art, Washington), a panel that Albani`s teacher, Annibale Carracci, painted around 1590-95.

Albani must have drawn inspiration from this work around 1610 when, possibly because of Annibale`s death, he had to complete a Toilet of Venus intended to form a pair with his teacher`s Diana and Callisto, 1598-99 (Duke of Sutherland collection). Compared with the panel in Washington, however, Albani`s group appears less articulated in space, and this, along with the characteristic porcelain whiteness of his nudes and other details such as the strict profile of the chair on which Venus is sitting, endows it with the air of a luminous classical frieze standing out against a leafy wood.

The iconographic source for the rather rare subject of Venus being groomed by the Graces may lie, as Donald Posner suggested in regard to Carracci`s version, in Homer`s Odyssey. There, Venus is said to have committed adultery with Mars and then fled to Cypress, where: The Graces washed her and anointed her with immortal oil, things that increase the splendour of the gods who live forever, and they dressed her in desirable clothes that were a wonder to behold.

Despite its relative rarity, the subject of Venus and the Three Graces was frequently explored, with similar elements, by artists from Albani`s circle at around the same time he began the series now at the Louvre. It appears, for example, in a 1622-23 work by Guercino (private collection), and also in one from 1620-25 by Albani`s childhood friend and later rival Guido Reni, with participation by his workshop (National Gallery, London).

Albani`s The judgement of Paris, c.1650-60 (P2), shows the shepherd prince admiring the beauty of three goddesses competing for the golden apple: Venus, in the centre, accompanied by a dove; Minerva, on the right, identified by her helmet and the weapons lying abandoned on the ground; and Juno, associated with the peacock. In the sky, Cupid hastens to fit an arrow to his bow. As in The toilet of Venus, Albani here eschews action in favour of a placid scene in which the mortal shepherd leans against a tree as he attempts to decide who should receive the apple. On the left, over a landscape enlivened with small waterfalls, we see a river deity, who may be Scamander, running through Mount Ida in the company of some nymphs.

Like The toilet of Venus, this one includes various putti, which some see as an indication of the influence of Titian`s Aldobrandini Bacchanals. The presence of these works in Rome from 1598 onwards certainly had a decisive influence on Albani and his contemporaries. The putti also echo Albani`s own life, however, as he had twelve children and, according to his principal biographer Carlo Cesare Malvasia, the artist actually hung them from the ceiling as models.

A copy of this painting at the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, Madrid, has smaller figures and a less-developed landscape.

While this painting and The toilet of Venus are similar in size, they were probably not a pair. Both were at the Buen Retiro Palace, Madrid, and in 1762 were among the works in the Spanish Royal Collection that the prudish Charles III ordered to be destroyed because of their sensuality. The works` immolation was prevented by the Marquis of Esquilache and Anton Raphael Mengs, who greatly admired the classical paintings from Bologna and managed to have them moved to the so-called Casa de Rebeque, near Madrid`s Royal Palace, along with many other works by Titian, Rubens and others. In 1792 the paintings were requested by the Academia de San Fernando as models for the study of colour and were hung in the Sala del Colorido. In 1827 they were taken to the Sala Reservada (Private Room) at the Museo del Prado, which existed until 1838.

González, R., Francesco Albani 'The toilet of Venus' En:. Italian masterpieces from Spain's royal court, Museo del Prado, National Gallery of Victoria Thames & Hudson, 2014, p.112-115