Capitoline Venus
Marble.Roman work of the 2nd century CE after a Greek model of the 4th century BCE. Inv. No. S 409.Rome, Capitoline Museums, Palazzo Nuovo, Cabinet of Venus
Capitoline Venus.
Marble.
Roman work of the 2nd century CE after a Greek model of the 4th century BCE.
Roman work of the 2nd century CE after a Greek model of the 4th century BCE.
Inv. No. S 409.
Rome, Capitoline Museums, Palazzo Nuovo, Cabinet of Venus
(Roma, Musei capitolini, Palazzo Nuovo, Gabinetto di Venere).
Origin:
Found in Rome between 1667 and 1670.
Donated by Benedict XIV.
Donated by Benedict XIV.
Description:
After walking along the Gallery, the visitor arrives at a small polygonal room on the right-hand side built at the beginning of the 19th century to create a charming setting, typical of a nymphaeum, for the Capitoline Venus. The sculpture, among the most famous and reproduced pieces of the collection, is made of a prestigious marble (which probably originated from the Greek island of Paros containing marble with wonderful transparent properties when viewed with light held at an oblique angle.) The statue was found in a perfect state of preservation — a recent restoration exalts the softness of the flesh — because its owner, during a period of danger, hid it inside a wall. The goddess is represented naked while she steps out of her ritual bath, symbolized by the vase and the cloth depicted next to her. This iconography dates back to a Hellenistic variation of the Pudica (modest) Aphrodite, created by Praxiteles in the middle of the 4th century B. C. for the Knidian sanctuary. The Capitoline replica, from the Antonine age, may have been meant to adorn the garden of a refined architectural complex.
Credits:
© 2000 Photo: Musei Capitolini. Comune di Roma. Electa, p. 60.
© 2001. Text: The Capitoline Museums. Short guide. Comune di Roma. Electa, 2004, p. 50.
© 2001. Text: The Capitoline Museums. Short guide. Comune di Roma. Electa, 2004, p. 50.
Keywords: γλυπτική sculptura sculpture sculptural scultura skulptur ρωμαϊκό roman romana romano romani römisch römische römisches römischen römischer romain romaine romains romaines ρωμαϊκό αντίγραφο copy copia kopie copie ελληνική μυθολογία mythologia graeca greek mythology mitologia greca griechische mythologie grecque ρωμαϊκή ἄγαλμα άγαλμα statua statuae statue statues statui statuen statuons ἀφροδίτη αφροδίτη aphrodite afrodite βένους venus venere vénus nude nuda nackte nue standing in piedi stehende pédestre marble marmo marmor marbre μάρμαρο female hairdo hairstyle pettinatura acconciatura femminile weibliche frisur coiffure féminine θηλυκό χτένισμα prassitele praxitèle praxiteles πραξιτέλης vase vaso δοχείο βάζο woman donna frau femme lustral bath bathing balneazione lustrale baden baignade capitoline capitolina inv no s 409
