There's an enormous store of mythology built up around the existence, roles and antics of the Gods. Is it all myth?
Will Fox had been to the Gallery before, of course, as an art lover, but this time it was because he'd been given a project by his tutor. He was an art student, and he had been instructed to paint a series of four portraits of Venus, as modern updates of the classical pictures. This was inspired by the fact that Venus was the subject of the summer exhibition. They had a few of the really well-known images there: Giorgione's Sleeping Venus; a couple of Titian's Venuses, the Urbino and Venus Arising from the Sea (he seemed besotted with her and painted her several times); Rubens' Venus and Adonis; and many other images of the goddess through the ages. And here Will was, standing with a crowd of other gallery goers in front of perhaps the most famous Venus painting of them all: the Birth of Venus by Botticelli, the one with Venus standing on a seashell representing her 'birth' from the waves. He'd been told very firmly not to produce a reproduction but a 'modern interpretation'. How was he going to do that? He was lost for inspiration.
"Come on Venus, you're a goddess," he sighed, "Help me out here, I need an idea..."
From just behind him, where he hadn't noticed her, came a voice in response, startling him.
"Happy to help if I can!"
He turned around. Standing there was a woman, age quite hard to guess but if pushed you'd have said late twenties, dressed relatively conservatively in a modest bright blue blouse and jeans, but clearly something of a beauty. Fairly tall for a woman, slim but with some appealing curves, she had classically good features, long fair hair, and you could see a lively personality shining through her smile and sparkling blue eyes.
"Oh, er, sorry, help how?" Will wasn't always at his most eloquent with strangers, especially attractive women.
"Well, my name is Venus, and you just asked me for help!"
"Oh!" Will felt himself blush, something he always tried hard to suppress. He hadn't realised that he'd actually spoken out loud, he was so caught up in his thoughts.
"It's just, ah, I'm an art student, and I've been set the task of painting a modern interpretation of four classic paintings of Venus. Artists are supposed to have inspiration... I think I left mine at home!"
"I see!" She had an electrifying smile. "I tell you what, if I buy you a coffee, tell me what you need to do and we can see if two heads are better than one!"
"Oh, er, that's really kind, are you sure? That would be great, um, thanks..."
They eased out from the throng in front of the picture, and made their way to the gallery's café. Venus got two Cappuccinos and Will found a free table.
"So, you know my name, what's yours?" Venus said.
"Will... pleased to meet you!"
"Likewise, Will! I have to say you look older than most art students."
"Yeah, I'm 31, which makes me seem really ancient compared with my classmates. Sometimes we don't seem to have a lot in common! They're all into modern art forms, like installation art or digital art or videos, and especially abstract or so-called representative imagery, although I often find it hard to see what they represent! One of my classmates is into building statues from glueing together bits of cardboard boxes! Well, I like old-fashioned painting. That makes it a bit hard too."
"Well, if it's any comfort, I'm definitely in the old-fashioned painting camp! Which art school are you at?"
"The Julius London. It's near Smithfield, do you know it?"
"I've been past it. How come you are only going to art school now, practically a pensioner?" The twinkle in her eye gave the tease away.
He laughed. "That's how the cookie crumbled for me! I've always been into art, but my father was a carpenter, he had a fairly successful small business. He set it up, oh, fifteen or more years ago now, up to then he took any carpentry jobs he could, so he could look after me - my mother had died giving birth to me." Venus made a sympathetic noise. "So when I could, I started helping him and when I left school I had learned enough to start working for him, and we built it up to six staff. Then..." It was still a bit raw.
She put her hand on his. "Tell me only if you want to." He found that he did.
"Dad got sick, and it turned out to be cancer. He lasted about a year. So I inherited the firm, but I'm not a business type, so when I had approaches to buy it I jumped at the chance. So, now I have just about enough money to do what I'd always wanted to do, and become an artist. I've always loved drawing, and I'm told I have a good eye and some talent, but I needed to come to Art School to learn more about painting techniques. Plus of course the thorny issue of how to get your work sold!"
"Good for you! What sort of art will you want to do?"
"I'm not totally sure. I've always liked drawing people, but that's hard to make money with. Better to be a so-called 'corporate artist' and make pretty pictures for boardrooms and hotels. I'll see how it goes, I guess. I can't live on the money from the business for ever, but at least if it doesn't work out I can go back to carpentry."
"Sounds like a good plan. So tell me about this assignment."
"Well..." Will paused, gathering his thoughts. "We've all been set different tasks, but the powers that be will mark the results and they will be part of our exam. Because this exhibition was on, I was set the assignment of painting Venus. I think that's why they told me before the summer holidays, whilst this exhibition is still on, and since I don't have anywhere to go for the holidays I'm minded to get started as soon as I can. I know it's only August and I've got until the end of the Autumn term to hand them in, but I think it will take quite a while to get these paintings right. I've got to make four paintings, which are loosely based on classic works in this exhibition, interpreted in a modern context. I think I know which ones I want to do, but I'm struggling with how to place them in a modern setting. And then there's the problem of finding models... there's barely a painting in the whole exhibition where she's wearing any clothes!"
"I'm sure girls won't have a problem posing for a nice young man like you! So which ones do you want to paint?"
"Well, I think the Rokeby Venus..."
"Ah, Velazquez..."
"Yes, only instead of a mirror, she's holding a mobile phone for a selfie. I'll omit Cupid, I think it's too fraught to have a small child in a modern picture with a nude woman."
"Sounds good... and then?"
"I like Titian's Venus of Urbino, it's very provocative with her lying there, smirking at the viewer, fingers over her pudenda as if about to masturbate, so it would suit a modern audience! I'll make her covered with tattoos."
"I like it! Hey, you seem to have it all worked out - you haven't obtained this coffee by deception have you?" She laughed.
He smiled back. "Hardly... I can't work out what to do with the background in the Venus of Urbino. Titian made it look almost like a painting behind Venus's bed rather than a view through a doorway, and the figures of the women with their backs turned are very strange."
"Why not make it a painting then, and use a modern picture, such as a Warhol? Or a courtyard with, let's see, oh, how about representing the women as if they were a Banksy on the wall?"
Will laughed. "Hey, that's not bad. I'll see what I can come up with."
"Great!" Venus beamed. "So what's next?"
"Oh, the next is a must - it's got to be the Botticelli - I just don't quite see how to do it yet."
"Let me think... How about instead of a seashell you put her on a surfboard, and instead of Zephyr and Aura blowing on her, a couple of fans? As for the Hora holding the cloak, just put a coat stand with a dressing gown!"
"Hmm, that could work... yes... I think you have something... I'll see if I can work up some sketches... thanks!"
"My pleasure! And the fourth?"
"I don't know... I'd like to have one of the pictures of her with Adonis or Mars, but I'm having trouble picking one or knowing what to do with it. Some of these are so complicated with lots of background figures, and whichever one I do I'll want to reduce it down to key subject matter. I wondered about the Rubens, Venus and Adonis, but it's hard to see what to do with it."
"My choice would be Mars Being Disarmed by Venus, the Jacques-Louis David. I've always been fond of that."
"That's the one with her grabbing the laurel wreath from his head? Interesting... I guess Venus would be removing a baseball cap, not a laurel wreath... and he'd be holding not a spear but... um..."
"I know, how about he's got a cricket bat and she's holding his cricket cap? And perhaps he's still wearing his cricket pads?" Venus said and laughed. Will joined in.
"Perfect! And the figures in the background should be the umpires!"
"I think that should work!" Venus was quite animated and clasping her hands in glee. It was infectious.
"Now all I have to do is find models for each of these paintings - I'll have to see what my budget can stretch to..."
"I'll do it if you like," said Venus. Will was quite sure his jaw literally dropped.
"I, er, well, are you sure? I mean that would be fantastic, you'd be perfect, but I can't pay much, and anyway you hardly know me. I know I'm harmless but you don't. You do realise you'll need to be nude? You should have a chaperone, and -"
She held up a hand. "It's ok, I'm a good judge of character, I can tell you're a decent man. I'm happy to do it for nothing, call it 'for art'! How much time will you want and when?"
"Um, here's how I see it going. I'll mock up some draft sketches so I know the poses and the accessories I need. I'll meet you to go over these and see what you are comfortable with, and we'll work out the order and schedule. Next I'll get the set prepared and then get you to pose for photographs. Then I'll do the core painting and get it say ninety percent done working from the photos, then I'll get you back to pose again to do the finishing touches, you know, get the highlights and shadows just right and so on. Before photos were so good, you'd need the sitter for maybe six or eight sessions! Nowadays you can manage with one. So that's probably, oh, say two or three hours for the photos for each painting, then probably the best part of a day for each painting for the finishing touches. How does that sound? I've got a while before I need to submit the paintings, but it's still a lot of time for you, I know..."
