Venus looks straight at the observer, unconcerned about her nakedness. She has a posy of flowers in her right hand and her other hand is over her genitals.
A dog, which is commonly used as a symbol of faithfulness, may be seen in the background. Two maids are depicted in the backdrop searching through a cassone trunk, where garments were stored.
Venus’ hand “caressing” her genital area, according to Rona Goffen, is such an allusion since it was initially believed that a female “emission” or orgasm was required for pregnancy to occur.
An identical dog is depicted in Titian’s painting of the duke’s mother Eleonora Gonzaga, with the rationalization being that the dog helps to identify the house as a della Rovere home.
According to Józef Grabski’s latest interpretation, the picture is a metaphor of marital love between Fernando d’valos and Italian poet Vittoria Colonna.
It was relocated to the Uffizi in 1736 and has stayed there ever since, with the exception of trips to exhibits in Brussels, Madrid, Tokyo, Venice, and Urbino in the 21st century.
Mark Twain described it as “the filthiest, nastiest, most obscene image the earth possesses” in his 1880 travelog. He speculated that “it was created for a brothel, and it was probably declined because it was a touch too powerful."