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Painted in 1913 in Madrid, a city in which the artist enjoyed the friendship and admiration of the intelligentsia of the period, Venus of Poetry has been said to depict the famous actress and performer of variety songs Raquel Meller, personified here as the goddess of love and beauty in the company of the Guatemalan diplomat and writer Enrique Gómez Carrillo, who would later become her husband. Inspired by Titian's Venus and the Lute Player, the canvas is structured in two clearly divided sections. In the foreground, the recumbent woman beholds the spectator as she sensuously places a blond lace mantilla over her head. In the centre of the composition, a rose symbolises beauty and passion. The Door of the Bridge, built in the Renaissance, can be discerned in the realm of fantasy depicted in the background, behind which the river Guadalquivir and the city of Cordova appear. In contrast with his usual female models, Romero de Torres grants this Venus a timeless Symbolist air that combines reality and idealism to create an archetypal sensuous woman.

As well as representing the folkloric and clichéd Spain embodied in the legendary "mujer morena" (dark-haired woman), Julio Romero de Torres'work involves a creative and highly complex modernism in which different aesthetic trends and pictorial traditions converge. His technically academic works produced in an Art Nouveau and Symbolist style made Romero de Torres one of the most popular and distinguished painters of his time. [Javier Novo González]

Selected bibliography

• Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao : guía. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2006. p. 137.
• Musée des Beaux Arts de Bilbao : guide. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2006. p. 137.
• Bilbao Fine Arts Museum : guide. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2006. p. 137.
• El agua en la pintura andaluza [Cat. exp.]. Sevilla, Junta de Andalucía, Agencia Andaluza del Agua, 2007. p. 142.
• García de la Torre, Fuensanta. Julio Romero de Torres : pintor, 1874-1930. Madrid, Arco/Libros, 2008. pp. 113, 115, fig. 93.
• Giorello, Giulio. Lussuria : La passione della conoscenza. Bolonia, il Mulino, 2009. pp. 131, 138.
• Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao : guía. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2011. p. 137, n° cat. 94.
• Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa : gida. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2012. p. 176, n° cat. 94.
• Julio Romero de Torres : entre el mito y la tradición [Cat. exp.]. Málaga, Fundación Palacio de Villalón, 2013. pp. 27, 98, 102, n° cat. 29.
• Julio Romero de Torres : entre el mito y la tradición [Cat. exp.]. Sevilla, Junta de Andalucía, 2013. pp. 27, 98, 102, n° cat. 29.
• ¡Pisa morena! : cuplé, copla y baile en época de Sorolla [Cat. exp.]. Valencia, Consorcio de Museos de la Comunitat Valenciana, 2013. pp. 26-27, 128, il.
• Bilbao Fine Arts Museum : guide. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2014. p. 137.
• Musée des Beaux Arts de Bilbao : guide. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2014. p. 137.
• 110 Years 110 Works [Cat. exp.]. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2018. pp. 200-201, sin n° cat.
• 110 Años 110 Obras [Cat. exp.]. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2018. pp. 200-201, sin n° cat.
• 110 Ans 110 Oeuvres [Cat. exp.]. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2018. pp. 200-201, sin n° cat.
• 110 Urte 110 Artelan [Cat. exp.]. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2018. pp. 200-201, sin n° cat.