Anonymous - Venus and the sorcerer

• Title: Venus and the sorcerer
• Artist: Anonymous (-)
• Date: c.30000 BCE
• Medium: Wooden charcoal drawings with fading, flint scratching
• Dimensions:

The composition of "Venus and the sorcerer" can be found in the last and deepest of the Chauvet Cave chambers, the Salle du Fond. From the chamber's 7 meter-high ceiling, a vertical cone of limestone hangs down ending in a point 1.1 meter off the floor. It is on this hanging outcrop that the Venus and the Sorcerer are drawn in black charcoal. The pendant occupies a unique position, because anyone moving into the room comes directly to it. The pendant's shape and location probably explain why it is decorated with such a meaningful motif.

The black pubic triangle of the Venus is at eye level and seems to be the heart of the composition. It is shaded in with black pigment.

The Venus is not isolated. Other lines and realistic representations are associated with her, directly on the outcrop. Higher and to the left of the Venus are two felines, a mammoth and a small musk ox. To the right of the Venus is the "Sorcerer" or man-bison. The relation of the Venus to the Sorcerer cannot be simply fortuitous. Studies have shown the Venus was the first figure to have been painted. The Man-bison was painted after and so were the felines.