Venus Statue, Bronze

Venus statuette made of solid, real bronze. Handcrafted, detailed statue of the goddess of love according to a classical model.

SKU
747001
Lieferzeit
3-4 weeks
€139.00
All prices include VAT, plus shipping costs

Venus Statue, Bronze

The statue of Venus (Greek Aphrodite) is made of solid bronze and is produced in a complex lost wax process. The figure fits perfectly into a small house altar (Lararium). The "Venus of Arles", a Roman copy of a Greek masterpiece, served as a model. When depicting the right arm, which was not preserved in the original, I took the liberty of a more natural posture. As attributes, Venus carries a mirror and a pomegranate in her right hand. The latter refers to the "Judgement of Paris", which led to the Trojan War and, after the flight of Aeneas, ultimately to the foundation of Rome.


The Venus of Arles

The fragments of the ancient statue were discovered in 1651 in the amphitheatre of Arles during the excavation of a trench and were given as a gift to Louis XIV by the municipality. The French court sculptor Francois Girardon completed and reworked the statue, which was missing both arms. After the Revolution, the statue was given to the Louvre.

The statue is a Roman copy of a Greek statue of Aphrodite, possibly a work of art from Tespiai. The famous sculptor Praxiteles is said to have made this statue, from whose hands also came the Aphrodite of Knidos. Both figures have a similar representation of the head, but the Aphrodite of Knidos is completely unclothed and was probably created somewhat later, around 350 B.C. The extraordinarily beautiful hetaera Phryne is said to have served as Praxiteles' model.

Venus was not only the goddess of love and beauty. Among the Romans of the Julian-Claudian period, Venus enjoyed special veneration, as the imperial family claimed direct descent from the goddess of love.

In fact, she was the progenitor of the entire Roman nation, for her son Aeneas, who came from Troy, was the ancestor of Romulus, the legendary founder of Rome. Augustus' famous armoured statue "Prima Porta" shows Cupid at the feet of the emperor and a dolphin as a reference to his divine descent from the goddess of love. Hadrian built the double temple to Roma, the goddess of Rome, and Venus on the Roman Forum, symbolising her great importance to the Romans. 

Her holiday was 1 April, and the fifth day of the week was also named after her - Veneris dies. In Italian and French, for example, the terms venerdi and vendredi have survived, while in German Venus was equated with the Germanic goddess Freija and the day is consequently called Friday.

 

 

More Information
Delivery time 3-4 weeks
weight 0.350000
size 13 cm
Era Romans
Material Bronze
Kind of replica Gods and cult
scope of delivery Delivery in a jewellery case with certificate
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