The painting’s title, Cypripedia, is wordplay derived from both the subject—a model posed with an orchid—and Greek mythology. “Cypri” refers to Venus or Aphrodite, the classical goddess of love, who was also known as “Cypris” for her mythological birthplace, Cyprus. The latter part of the title, “pedium,” meaning “slipper,” references the orchid genus Cypripedium, known as the slipper orchid for the flower’s shoe-like shape. At once traditional and modern, the model resembles a twentieth-century Venus.