The painting attributed with certainty to the hand of Dosso Dossi is still at the centre of various interpretative hypotheses to identify both the subject and the commissioner. The work came from the court of the Este family and passed through numerous collections before its final transfer of ownership that brought it to Bologna to the Unicredit Banca collection in Palazzo Magnani in 1999. Around the middle of the 17th century, the canvas was in Rome in the collection of Cardinal Antonio Barberini, before being inherited by Prince Maffeo Barberini. There was no news of it until 1980 when it appeared in England, bought by Sotheby’s auction house and then resold to the Unicredit Banca art collection.
According to the first interpretative hypothesis, the subject of the canvas is Venus, beautiful and half-naked, she is gently lying in the foreground above a blue and orange drape that also envelops part of her body. The goddess is depicted in a spontaneous gesture as she brings her right hand to her forehead to better see Love who, high above her, is emerging from the clouds. In the background behind Venus is a tree that extends a branch laden with apples towards her, while on the left the landscape opens up first into a meadow then into a dense woodland, and finally, in the background, a city can be glimpsed. At the end of the wooded area are three figures: a seated couple intent on playing the flute, while an older man leaning on a stick listens to them. If the woman lying in the foreground can be identified with Venus, the presence of the goddess would link the painting to the theme of love and this may allude to a marriage. The lack of documentary evidence and certain dating leave two hypotheses open regarding its commission: if the painting was executed in the period 1524-1525, as proposed by Ballarin, it could allude to the relationship between Alfonso I and Laura Dianti, a hypothesis that would find support in the presence of a laurel branch, an explicit reference to the name of the woman loved by the Duke. On the other hand, if one favours a date a few years later, one would arrive at 1528, the year in which the marriage between Ercole II and Renata of France was celebrated.
Another interpretative hypothesis points to the sky covered by dense clouds laden with rain, which is an element that is out of place in a canvas painted for such a happy and festive occasion as a wedding. Recently Farinella has indicated in the subject of the painting a story of Cupid and Psyche, narrated by Apuleius in the ‘Golden Ass’. The female figure would thus be Psyche caught in a moment of despair, because she has violated the prohibition to meet Cupid only in the darkness and has therefore been abandoned by the god.
Whatever the correct interpretation of the canvas, Dosso Dossi paints an extraordinary page of Renaissance Po Valley painting, in which one can see a personal elaboration of Giorgione’s ‘Venus’.
Details such as the transparent veil covering the woman’s nudity, the soft naturalness of her body and the landscape painted in the background bring out the refinement of his painting.
