Robert Warren, the executive director of Hoyt Sherman Place Art Gallery in Des Moines, Iowa, found a long forgotten piece of the museum’s collection in a storeroom. The piece turned out to be “Apollo and Venus” by the Dutch painter Otto van Veen.The suggestive backside nude of Venus also shows Cupid reaching a hand into her lap and Apollo raising his tunic with one hand exposing his upper thigh while feeding her a tray of oysters.
Warren says the painting was attributed to van Veen because the model displays his signature trademark rosy cheeks (not those on the face).
I’m not buying their description, I think they are trying to make it sound more risqué to drive up interest. Sitting at her “dressing table” is debatable, but Apollo is definitely not feeding her oysters, they are sitting on the floor on her opposite side from him. As for Cupid reaching into her lap, the posture he’s in would cause him to fall on his butt.
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