Capitoline Venus
The Capitoline Venus is an ancient, slightly larger than life marble statue of an undressed, ideally beautiful young woman. The statue was found in Rome in the 17th century and has been exhibited in the Capitoline Museums in Rome since 1752 . It is considered to be one of the numerous replicas and variants of the famous Aphrodite of Knidos by the sculptor Praxiteles that were created in antiquity . The Capitoline Venus has been the template for numerous copies and new creations since early modern times .
Find history
The statue of Capitoline Venus was found during the reign of Pope Clement X (1667-1670) in the gardens of the Stazi family near the Basilica of San Vitale between the Quirinal and Viminal Hills in Rome. In 1752 Pope Benedict XIV bought it from the Stazi family and donated it to the Capitoline Museums, where it was initially placed in the “Stanza degli Imperatori”. During the Napoleonic era, the statue was in the Louvre in Paris from 1797 to 1815 . After it was returned, it was initially in the “Stanza del Gladiatore” until a small room of its own, the “Gabinetto della Venere”, was built for it between 1830 and 1834 on the ground floor of the museum's Palazzo Nuovo on the Capitol Hill . It bears the inventory number "MC 409".
motive
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The statue of Capitoline Venus was created during the Roman Empire, probably in the Antonine period (96–192 AD) as a replica of a Hellenistic transformation of the 2nd century BC. Aphrodite des Praxiteles, the Aphrodite of Knidos, who was famous in antiquity. Praxiteles made his work on behalf of the citizens of the island of Kos . This statue is considered to be the first life-size representation of a completely undressed woman in classical times , which on the one hand shocked the world of that time , and on the other hand aroused admiration for the quality of the artistic execution. The citizens of Kos as the client rejected the statue. Some admirers then acquired the statue and transported it to the city of Knidos , where it was placed in a specially designed temple. Here it could be viewed from all sides and attracted many visitors from all regions of the Mediterranean. This popularity led to Hellenistic artists making many replicas of the statue and developing the type further in various variations.
While the statue of Praxiteles is not aware of its observer and presents itself unconcerned about its nudity, the Hellenistic transformations justified the motif of the "Venus pudica", the shameful Venus, who is shown naked, but makes an inadequate attempt with her hands To cover nakedness. As a central work of ancient art, the statue has often been replicated in modern times and can be found or found in a large part of plaster cast collections.
literature
- Wolfgang Helbig : Guide through the public collections of classical antiquities in Rome. Volume 2: The Municipal Collections: Capitoline Museums and Museo Barracco. The State Collections: Ara Pacis, Galleria Borghese, Galleria Spada, Museo Pigorini, antiquarians on Forum and Palatine Hill. 4th, completely revised edition. Wasmuth, Tübingen 1966, pp. 128-130 no. 1277.
- Francis Haskell , Nicholas Penny : Taste and the Antique. The Lure of Classical Sculpture, 1500-1900. Yale University Press, New Haven CT et al. 1981, ISBN 0-300-02641-2 , No. 84.
- Christine Mitchell Havelock: The Aphrodite of Knidos and Her Successors. A Historical Review of the Female Nude in Greek Art. University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor MI 1995, ISBN 978-0-472-03277-8 ( digitized ).
