Crouching Venus (bathing), Bronze On A Sienna-yellow Marble Pedestal, 19th Century

Bronze with a brown-green patina and a veined Sienna yellow marble base.

19th century.

The goddess is depicted nude, crouching, with her right knee near the ground, her head turned to the right, and her right arm drawn back toward her left shoulder in a gesture covering her breast. The model follows the ancient type of the Crouching Venus, a Roman replica of a Hellenistic original attributed to the sculptor Doidalsas of Bithynia. Numerous versions of this type are preserved in various museums, notably the National Archaeological Museum of Naples, the Louvre, and the Uffizi. The model’s popularity, evidenced by the number of replicas unearthed at Roman sites in Italy and France, continued into the Renaissance.

Our model, without drapery, is faithful to the ancient original and rests on a shell. It features meticulous chiseling and rests on a rectangular base of yellow Siena marble encircled by a bronze frieze decorated with water leaves, supported by four hoof-shaped feet.

The last photograph in the listing shows the Lely Venus, an antique replica of the same type that once belonged to the painter Sir Peter Lely, now in the Royal Collection and on loan to the British Museum.

Dimensions: total height 51 cm; base 35 cm wide by 22 cm deep.