The Titian Bed-sitter - October 1992 by Charles Oakley

Signed and dated lower right facing 

From the estate of the artist 

Based on Titian’s Venus of Urbino, also known as the Reclining Venus.

Early in Charles Oakley’s career he painted a number of bed-sitter scenes, inspired by the flat in Bayswater, London, where he lived as a student. However, the bedsit depicted in this painting is rather less shabby than those he painted in the early 50’s. The nude is shown in the same pose as Venus, but the servants depicted in the background of Titian’s original, have now become the subject of a painting on the wall behind.