Venere Italica Imposing Marble Sculpture From The Grand Tour, Circa 1840

An imposing sculpture in white Carrara marble depicting the Italica Venus, Roman workshop, circa 1840.
The Venere Italica is a marble sculpture created by Antonio Canova as compensation for the transfer to France of the Medici Venus, which had been seized by the French during the Napoleonic looting. The sculptor drew inspiration from this work—primarily on a spiritual level—seeking to evoke the tenderness of the flesh, its gentle vibrancy, and its movement in space, which he conveys through the body’s free articulation and the delicacy of the shading. The sculptor used a soft, rosy mixture of clay to better highlight the beauty of the goddess’s body as she hides behind a cloth—likely startled by someone’s arrival—in keeping with the classical theme of the Venus pudica.
The new sculpture, whose modernity had been evident from the very beginning in comparison to the ancient prototype, enjoyed enormous success, making it the subject of extensive critical literature and the protagonist of numerous sonnets, including one by Giovanni Rosini, who christened it “Italica.” Ugo Foscolo, in contrasting her with the Medici Venus, described her as “a beautiful woman, capable of making one fall in love, while the ancient one is an impassive, albeit beautiful, goddess.” Created in the artist’s Roman studio, the work arrived at the Tribuna of the Uffizi in 1812, quickly becoming one of the most admired statues and an unmissable destination for art lovers and travelers on the Grand Tour.
Our sculpture was created in Rome around 1840 from a single block of pure white Carrara marble. It is one of those luxury copies created in Rome in the wake of the fame of Canova’s original version, measuring a full 135 cm. The sculpture comes directly from a private Roman collection. It has never undergone restoration and is in perfect condition.

Dimensions
H 135 cm