'TANNHÄUSER', A GILT-BRONZE AND IVORY FIGURAL GROUP, CIRCA 1910

Tannhäuser (active 1245-65) was a German poet who, from 15th century legend, spent a year at Venusberg worshipping Venus. His subsequent remorse filled departure, forgiveness sought from Pope Urban IV and return to the goddess' home was made famous by Richard Wagner's opera Tannhäuser in 1845. Aubrey Beardsley began writing a romantic novel of the legend which was left unfinished, but later published under the title The Story of Venus and Tannhäuser in 1907.