Venus Archive

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The Venus at Bath was commissioned in 1756 and completed c. 1767. Its concept, derived loosely from Giambologna, is much better than the execution, whereby the goddess remains lumpish and her draperies inert and mechanical. However, it was praised by Diderot. This appealed to Madame Du Barry, who obtained the Venus and placed it at Louveciennes, and commissioned in 1772 from the sculptor a pendant of virtually the same subject in less languorous mood: a Diana surprised by Actaeon (also in the Louvre, Paris), completed five years later and then exhibited in the artist’s studio.

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Francesco Albani, an exponent of the classical ideal, chose a format for his four tondos which, in his own words, “softened” his pictorial expression. The subject matter is taken from Philostratus (Eikones I,6) who describes the games of cupids throughout the four seasons: throwing apples in spring, the fiery furnace of summer, Venus and Adonis taking their farewell in autumn and sleep in winter.

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