Canova, Antonio (1757-1822)
Paolina Borghese Bonaparte come Venere Vincitrice (Paolina Borghese Bonaparte as Venus Victrix)
1804–1808
Carrara marble, 160 x 92 cm
Galleria Borghese, Roma
Portrayed by Antonio Canova in the guise Venus victorious in the Judgement of Paris, Pauline Borghese Bonaparte (1780-1825) is depicted bare-breasted as she reclines on two cushions and a soft mattress, with her right hand touching her head and her left holding the apple. According to the well-known episode in Greek mythology, Paris granted Venus the golden apple to signify the primacy of her beauty over the virtues of Juno and Minerva. Executed in Rome between 1804 and 1810, the sculpture caused quite a stir among contemporaries: the work combines ancient grace and artifice with a naturalistic rendering – almost pictorial – of the soft flesh and delicate veils that cover Pauline’s lower body, creating an extremely seductive image.
The ‘Agrippina-style’ chaise lounge is decorated with a drape with fringes, beads, plant volutes and anthropomorphic figures on the sides and the backrest. The drape further serves to conceal the mechanism which allows the sculpture to rotate 360°.
The preparatory sketches of the work are held at the Museo Civico in Bassano, while the plaster model is conserved at the Gipsoteca in Possagno. (GB)
See also:
• Pauline Bonaparte, Princess Borghese (1780-1825)