The Rokeby Venus is a painting by Diego Velázquez, completed between 1647 and 1651, and now in London's National Gallery. It shows Venus lying on a bed with her back to the viewer, while her son Cupid holds a mirror so that she can see her reflection. The viewer sees her face in the mirror, which is physically impossible from where she lies, a quirk now called the Venus effect. It is the only surviving female nude by Velázquez, at a time when nudes were rare in Spanish art under the Inquisition. The painting hung in Spanish courtiers' houses until 1813, when it went to England. It was slashed by a suffragette in 1914 and attacked again in 2023.

Hampi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Karnataka, India, with more than 1,600 surviving remains spread over 4,100 hectares. It was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire from 1336 to 1565. Travellers from Persia and Portugal described it as a prosperous, wealthy and grand city with temples, markets and farms along the Tungabhadra River. By 1500 it was estimated to be the world's second-largest city after Beijing, and probably India's richest at the time. In 1565 a coalition of Muslim sultanates defeated the Vijayanagara Empire, its capital was conquered and destroyed, and the city was left in ruins. Hampi remains a religious centre, with the active Virupaksha Temple at its heart.