Venetia Benson (1864-1946) was the wife of the architect and designer W A S Benson and daughter of the watercolourist Alfred William Hunt, a close friend of EB-J. Venetia was the sister of Violet Hunt (1862-1942) who wrote an early essay on Elizabeth Siddal. A formal portrait of the sitter and not made as a study for a painting. Venetia was the model for The Spirit of the Downs in 1883.
... Venetia was so called in honour of her godfather, A W Hunt's friend and mentor, John Ruskin, who in fact had wished he to be known as Venice; certainly she is thus referred to in correspondence between Ruskin and her father. Hunt, who knew Burne-Jones well, had also commissioned him to draw Vilet and Sylvia, his two other daughters. ...