Elegant 19th century Grand Tour cabinet bronze of the Crouching Venus, the goddess of love and beauty surprised whilst bathing. Depicted with crossed arms to conceal her nudity as she appears on land immediately after her birth. Celebrated in antiquity the Roman author Pliny the Elder, in his Natural History, describes a statue of Venus washing herself, made by Doidalses and placed in one of the temples of the Portico d�Ottavia in Rome. A model for artists of the Renaissance, this iconographic image has been revisited many times with small variations throughout history, similar versions can be seen in the Louvre, Paris; the Museo Nazionale delle Terme, Rome; the Uffizi, Florence; the Vatican Museums, and the Royal Collection. This version most closely resembles the marble in the Vatican Museums, which was excavated at Salone in the eighteenth century (and engraved soon after by Francesco Piranesi). Presented on a stepped Marmo Rosso Levanto and Belgian Black marble base typical of souvenirs produced in Rome during the 19th century for the Grand Tour. After the antique, Italian, Rome, circa 1880.Based in London, we are dealers in fine decorative antiques from the 18th and 19th centuries. We specialise in this era of enlightenment, neoclassicism and the Grand Tour, with its far reaching influence on style and taste in Britain, Continental Europe and beyond: elegance in the age of Napoleon. Our extensive stock covers all aspects of this period and decorative antiques influenced by the period. We constantly source new, beautiful items and upload to our site regularly. We are first and foremost antique collectors with over thirty years of experience; we only buy what we love and we hope you will too. Additional images can be supplied on request. More items are available on our website http://www.cellantiques.co.ukHeight is 15cm (5.9inches)
Width is 9cm (3.5inches)
Depth is 7.8cm (3.1inches)