Grand Tour Model of Pauline Borghese as Venus Victrix After Canova

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Second-half 19th century Italian Grand Tour model of Pauline Bonaparte Borghese as Venus Victrix in exquisitely carved alabaster; the nude … Read more Second-half 19th century Italian Grand Tour model of Pauline Bonaparte Borghese as Venus Victrix in exquisitely carved alabaster; the nude figure reclining on a neoclassical récamier with apple in hand after the original life-sized sculpture carved by Antonio Canova. Pauline Bonaparte as Venus Victrix (or Venus Victorious) is a semi-nude life-size reclining neoclassical portrait sculpture by the Italian sculptor Antonio Canova (1 November 1757 – 13 October 1822). Reviving the ancient Roman sculptural tradition of mortals portrayed as gods and of the female form reclining on a couch (as in the reclining portrayals of Hermaphroditus), it was commissioned by Camillo Borghese, the second husband of Pauline Bonaparte and sister of Napoleon, and executed in Rome from 1805 to 1808, after her marriage into the Borghese family in 1803. It was moved to the Galleria Borghese in Rome circa 1838 where it still resides. See less