The #Venus Italica by Antonio Canova is one of the greatest expressions of ideal beauty, distance from overwhelming passions, noble simplicity and quiet grandeur.

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‣ On the candid white marble, #Canova applied a paste with a light pink color to further enhance the forms of Aphrodite and make it even more real. The gesture, of hiding behind a cloth, is taken from a subject much loved in antiquity, ever since, already in the classical age, the Goddess was represented with human appearances rather than sacred.

‣ This work was born from the desire for revenge since Napoleon conquering Italy had many of the most famous #works of art of the “beautiful Country” delivered, greatly enriching the French museums. Canova was then inspired by the “Venus de ‘Medici” of Cleomenes of Apollodorus which was also lost, but managed to sculpt a version that aroused even more enthusiasm than the “original” one.

⇒ Date: 1804-1812

⇒ Material: Carrara marble

⇒ Dimensions: 172 cm height

⇒ Site: Galleria Palatina, Florence