NEOCLASSICAL FOUNDRY, EARLY XIX CENTURY, Small Venus with footwear. A design inspired by archeological finds.

Black coated bronze with greenish traces. 18,5 x 6,7 x 6,7 cm with marble base; 16,5 x 6,7 x 6,7 cm just the statue

This small bronze statue reproduces a sculpture that dates from the I century BC to the I century AD, discovered at Ercolano in 1757 and currently housed in Naples's National Archeological Museum.

The Venus is naked, showing off a stunning hairdo. She seems about to take her sandal off, getting ready for a bath. This subject was very popular in ancient times, as proven by the vast number of statues with a similar motif, like the one in Padua's Musei Civici degli Ermitani.

Our bronze is post-1757 and could be dating to the Neoclassical age due to its quality: at worst, by the early 1800s.

Comparative bibliography:

AAVV, Serial Portable Classict: The Greek canon and its mutations, catalogue of the exhibition, Milano 2015, p. 236