Women and mythology were always favorite themes of Rene Lalique's designs. A great artist of the Art Deco period he was often referred to as the "Rodin of Transparencies". The Venus Nude sublety reminds us of the grace and sensuality of the goddess of beauty and love. Trained as a jeweler at the Ecole des Arts Decoratifs in Paris in the late 1880's, Rene Lalique gained recognition as an independent designer for some of the era's great jewelry houses including Cartier and Boucheron. Eventually, he turned to glassmaking, and his techniques were a triumph for the Art Deco movement. Every piece of Lalique is finely detailed and produced by hand in Alsace, France.