Modern Venus c.1963
Oil on canvas, 112 x 86.5cm

Renske, rising first thing in the morning, leaves a mass of crumpled sheets, cushions and bed clothes behind her. Her pose reminded Cyril Mann of Botticelli's Birth of Venus painting. The nude casts 'its solid shadow' against the wall. Sunlight bounces off a blue alarm clock on the round table to the right.

"I never want to use a studio," was Cyril Mann's constant refrain: "When I'm inspired, I need to
paint there and then."