Bronze Sculpture VENUS VICTRIX

Product Description

This beautiful statuette is a cast reproduction of the famous statuette Venus Victrix by Antonio Canova, the most famous sculptor of his age.
It was posed by Pauline Bonaparte (aka Paolina Borghese), sister to Napoleon and first sovereign Duchess of Guastalla. At the time it was considered highly controversial as her breasts are exposed, something that no member of the nobility would countenance.
The bronze is mounted to a marble base.
This would make a delightful gift for aficionados of mythology or collectors of fine bronze statuary.
The attention to detail is fantastic and the sculpture is extremely lifelike.
Created by the traditional lostwax or hotcast method in bronze.
Not to be confused with cheaper immitations. This is of the very finest quality.
This makes a stunning centre-piece or focal point in any room.

Original made by: Antonio Canova (1757-1822)

Height: 33 cm
Width: 51 cm
Depth: 19 cm

100% Bronze

Weight: 18.7 Kg

Artis Info

Antonio Canova (1757-1822)

Italian sculptor, Antonio Canova was famous for his marble sculptures of delicate nudes. Working after the excesses of the Baroque style, he carved a niche for himself in the world of neoclassical art. Called ‘the supreme minister of beauty’ and ‘a unique and truly divine man’ by contemporaries, Canova was highly acclaimed in his time. His international reputation as one of the greatest neoclassical sculptors clearly surpassed that of John Flaxman and John Gibson. His most famous works include Apollo Crowning Himself (1781, J Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles), Theseus and the Minotaur (1781, Victoria and Albert Museum), Cupid and Psyche (1786-93, Louvre, Paris), and Paolina Bonaparte Borghese as Venus Victorious (1808, Rome, Borghese). His tomb for Pope Clement XIV invited direct comparison with Bernini’s concept of the papal tomb; the latter’s dazzling polychromy has been replaced by Canova’s unsullied Carrara marble, while curvilinear forms and strong diagonals have been replaced by a rigid system of horizontals and verticals. Although later critics have claimed that Canova’s classicism led to a fatal loss of artistic vitality, his contemporaries took a more high-minded view, praising him for his superlative feel for Greek sculpture.