francs, and it entered the collection of the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg. In 1931, in order to earn foreign currency for the first of the five-year plans for the national economy of the Soviet Union, Joseph Stalin and the Soviet government secretly sold the painting, along with a number of other masterpieces, to a syndicate of art dealers, who sold it to the American collector Andrew Mellon, who wished to create a national art museum for the United States. Mellon donated it to the United States Government in 1937. It was one of the first masterpieces to be displayed in the National Gallery of Art in Washington when it opened in 1941. Works that may have influenced Titian The pose of the painting may have been influenced by Ancient Greek and Roman statues of Venus Titian could have seen in Rome and Florence. He was also influenced by his teacher Giovanni Bellini, who was the leader of the Venetian school of painters, known for their masterful use of color. Influence of the painting The theme of the painting was adapted by a number of later artists, including Peter Paul Rubens and Diego Velázquez. The painting itself was the inspiration for the protagonist Severin's imagination in the 1870 novel Venus in Furs by Leopold von Sacher-Masoch. Gallery, influences Notes See also List of paintings in the National Gallery of Art, Washington DC, formerly in the Hermitage Museum Venus in Furs, a novel containing great reference to the painting. References Humfrey, Peter (2007), Titien, Tout l'oeuvre peint, Ludion, 2007, Nicholas Ilyin and Natalia Semonova, (2000), Prodanniy Sokrovischye Rossiyi, Trilisnik Publishers, Moscow, 1555 paintings Collections of the National Gallery of Art Mythological paintings by Titian Paintings of Venus Nude art Paintings of Cupid Mirrors in art