{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O134204"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O134204/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2007BM7724/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2007BM7724/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2007BM7724","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O134204/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O134204","accessionNumber":"9570","objectType":"Oil painting","titles":[{"title":"Venus rising from the froth of the sea","type":"generic title"}],"summaryDescription":"This oil painting shows the figure of Venus, stood on a rock at the foot of the rainbow and encircled with waves and sea foam. Venus, or Aphrodite, was the goddess of love and beauty. Classical legend tells of Venus being created after the severed genitals of the god Uranus were thrown in to the sea. The other figures surrounding Venus in Cruikshank’s’ image may be the Furies (vengeful female deities) who were created from the blood of Uranus. \r\nCruikshank painted two versions of this subject that are very similar in composition. The version in the Graphic Arts Collection at Princeton University also features Venus on a rainbow-bathed rock with waves crashing round her.\r\nGeorge Cruikshank is best known as a caricaturist and book illustrator. A prolific maker of prints during a long working life (there is an extensive collection in the V&A), the number of works in oil is small. Cruikshank was aware of his shortcomings as a painter in oils; in April 1853 he briefly enrolled - at the age of 61 - as a student in the RA antique class. He exhibited eight at the RA between 1830 and 1867 and 15 at the BI 1833-60, the subjects principally literary and genre. Died London 1 February 1878; a good deal of his studio collection was presented to the V &A by his second wife Eliza.","physicalDescription":"Image of Venus rising from the froth of the sea.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Cruikshank, George","id":"A8303"},"association":{"text":"painter (artist)","id":"AAT25136"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"oil paint","id":"AAT15050"},{"text":"canvas","id":"AAT14078"}],"techniques":[{"text":"oil painting","id":"AAT178684"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Oil on canvas","categories":[{"text":"Paintings","id":"THES48917"},{"text":"Myths & Legends","id":"THES49005"}],"styles":[{"text":"British School","id":"x30967"}],"collectionCode":{"text":"PDP","id":"THES48595"},"images":["2007BM7724"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"WS","id":"THES49603"},"free":"","case":"R","shelf":"33","box":"L"}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"oil sketch","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Great Britain","id":"x32019"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"19th century","earliest":"1800-01-01","latest":"1884-12-31"},"association":{"text":"painted","id":"x30138"},"note":"Pree 1884"}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Given by Mrs George Cruikshank","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"305","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"2016","earliest":"2016-01-01","latest":"2016-12-31"},"part":"canvas","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"252","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"2016","earliest":"2016-01-01","latest":"2016-12-31"},"part":"canvas","note":""},{"dimension":"Depth","value":"15","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"2016","earliest":"2016-01-01","latest":"2016-12-31"},"part":"canvas","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"'George Cruikshank'","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"Signed by the artist, lower right"},{"content":"'Venus rising from the Froth of the Sea/By George Cruikshank and Signed'","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"Inscribed in pen and pencil on a label on the back (presumably by the artist's wife) pasted onto the upper stretcher"}],"objectHistory":"Given by Mrs George Cruikshanks, 1884.\n\n\nThere is a very similar painting by Cruikshank - another version? - in Princeton University, Firestone Library, Graphic Arts Collection (see references).\r\n\r\n","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Oil painting, 'Venus Rising from the Froth of the Sea', George Cruikshank","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"Parkinson, R., <i>Victoria and Albert Museum, Catalogue of British Oil Paintings 1820- 1860</i>, London : HMSO, 1990","id":"AUTH357509"},"details":"p.57","free":"The following is the full text of the entry:\r\n\"CRUIKSHANK, George (1792-1878)\r\n\r\nBorn London 27 September 1792, son of the caricaturist Isaac Cruikshank, with whom he trained as a graphic artist perhaps as early as 1799. After James Gillray’s death 1815, he became the leading political caricaturist of the day. In the 1820s he turned to book illustration, receiving many commissions to provide plates for novels; the success of Dickens's <i>Sketches</i> by Box (1830) was largely due to Cruikshank's designs. In the 1840s his success and reputation declined, especially with the advent of <i>Punch</i> (1841). Many of his later works are concerned with the cause of temperance, and he enjoyed considerable success with his series of prints 'The Bottle' (1847). A prolific maker of prints during a long working life (there is an extensive collection in the V&A), the number of works in oil is small; he exhibited eight at the RA between 1830 and 1867 and 15 at the BI 1833-60, the subjects principally literary and genre. Died London 1 February 1878; a good deal of his studio collection was presented to the V &A by his second wife Eliza. \r\n\r\nLIT: G Reid <i>A Descriptive Catalogue of the Works of George Cruikshank</i>  3 vols, 1871; W Bates <i>George Cruikshank</i> 1878; B Jerrold <i>The Life of George Cruikshank</i> new ed 1898; A Cohn <i>George Cruikshank: a Catalogue Raisonné</i> 1924; <i>The Inimitable George Cruikshank</i> University of Louisville Libraries, Kentucky, USA, exhibition catalogue 1968; W Feaver <i>George Cruikshank</i> V&A exhibition catalogue 1974; H and M Evans <i>The Man Who Drew the Drunkard's Daughter </i>... 1978; M Wynn <i>George Cruikshank: His Life and London</i>1978; G Buchanan-Brown <i>The Book Illustrations of George Cruikshank</i> Newton Abbot 1980 \r\n\r\n<b>Venus Rising from the Froth of the Sea</b> \r\nAL9570 \r\nCanvas, painted surface has an arched top, 30.5 x 25.1 cm (12 x 9 7/8 ins) \r\nSigned 'George Cruikshank' br and inscribed on the back as below \r\nGiven by Mrs George Cruikshank 1884\r\n \r\nThe title is that given on a label on the back, written in both pen and pencil, presumably by the artist's wife, and pasted on to the upper stretcher: 'Venus rising from the Froth of the Sea/By George Cruikshank and Signed'. \r\n\r\nEXH: <i>George Cruikshank</i> V&A 1974 (383)\""},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"p. 207","free":"Loukia Loizou Hadjigavriel, Myrto Hatzaki and Demetra Theodotou Anagnostopoulou, eds., <i>The Venus Paradox</i>. Nicosia : A.G. Leventis Gallery, [2017]. ISBN: 9789963732265"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"There is a very similar painting by Cruikshank - another version? - in Princeton University, Firestone Library, Graphic Arts Collection: \r\n\r\nhttp://web.archive.org/web/20230117100431/https://www.princeton.edu/~graphicarts/"}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"Unique","id":"THES48864"},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[{"text":"Venus","id":"N25"}],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"rainbows","id":"x31805"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["9570"],"accessionNumberNum":"9570","accessionNumberPrefix":"","accessionYear":null,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-16","recordCreationDate":"2007-04-25","availableToBook":false}}