Venus with two putti: a fragment

Domenico Beccafumi was the outstanding native-born artist of high Renaissance Siena, remarkable both for his genius as a religious painter and the unfailing intelligence of his secular compositions. First published by Leone de Castris, this panel is closely comparable with the double-sided beirheads in the Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena (Torriti, op. cit., no. P4), which are now generally accepted as early works of about 1510 by the artist, the head of Venus is shown at a very similar angle to that of San Galgano (Torriti, no. P46). The putti are similar in character to the infant angels of the central panel of the Trinity triptych, also at Siena (Torriti, no. P5), which is datable to 1513, but M. Torriti notes the superiority of the latter, which presumably implies that the Venus is the earlier in date of the two works.

This panel was likely intended as a spalliera. As Torriti suggests it may have been similarly posed to the later Venus in the Birmingham City Art Gallery (Torriti, no. P29).