Venus is one of the most important examples of Banksy’s highly significant and internationally celebrated series of Crude Oils, in which masterpieces of the Western Art historical tradition are vandalized through frequently humorous additions.

Brilliantly provocative and boldly witty in its appropriation of probably the most iconic image of beauty, Banksy’s Venus transforms Diego Velazquez’s The Rokeby Venus (1647-51) into a pithy commentary on the commercialisation of looks and appearance in the modern age.