Venus Medici
The Venus Medici is an ancient statue of the Venus pudica type , the shameful Venus.
It originated in the 1st century BC. BC and, like the model of the Capitoline Venus, belongs to the environment of Hellenistic transformations of Aphrodite of Knidos , the original of which was around 350/40 BC. Was created by Praxiteles .
In the 16th century the statue came into the possession of the Medici family . At a height of 1.51 meters, the life-size statue is 0.42 meters wide and 0.56 meters deep. It is made of marble and was the model for the famous painting by Sandro Botticelli (1445–1510) The Birth of Venus (around 1486).
The exact origin is unknown, but it was initially in Rome , where it was first mentioned in 1638. In 1677 it was brought to the Uffizi in Florence . During this transport the arms and head as well as the statue support in the form of a small dolphin broke, on whose back two erotes ride. After 1800 she came to Paris for twelve years under Napoleon . Since 1815 it has been back in the Uffizi collection under inventory number 224.
Chemical analyzes of the object showed that the head of the statue originally had golden leaves. She also had red lips and pierced ears .
literature
- Wiltrud Neumer-Pfau, studies on the iconography and social function of Hellenistic Aphrodite statues. Habelt, Bonn 1982, pp. 183-191.
- Angelos Delivorias: Aphrodite No. 419 . In: Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae (LIMC). Volume II, Zurich / Munich 1984, p. 53.
- Brunilde Sismondo Ridgway : Hellenistic sculpture 1. The styles of approx. 331-200 BC Bristol Classical Press, Bristol 1990, ISBN 0-299-11820-7 , p. 354 plate 179.
- Martin Flashar in: Peter Cornelis Bol (Hrsg.): The history of ancient sculpture. Volume 3. Zabern, Mainz 2007, pp. 338–340 Fig. 342 a – b.
