Italian, 19th century

The Capitoline Venus is one of the celebrated ancient marbles depicting the goddess in the alluring pudica pose, of which the Venus de' Medici is perhaps the best known. The Capitoline Venus was apparently found during the pontificate of Pope Clement X (1670-6). The statue was presented to the Capitoline Museum in 1752, but was ceded to the French in 1797 and triumphantly received in Paris. It was returned to the Capitoline Museums in 1816.

Though similar to the Venus de' Medici, the reputation of the Capitoline Venus took longer to develop. The two statues were, perhaps inevitably, compared in great detail, the Medici Venus often found to be superior. Towards the second half of the 18th century, the opinion on the Capitoline Venus turned more favourable, as the Medici Venus was thought to have been too restored. The Capitoline Venus was one of the works ceded to the French in 1798, where it was part of Napoleon's triumphant procession.

RELATED LITERATURE

F. Haskell and N. Penny, Taste and the Antique, the Lure of Classical Sculpture, 1500-1900, New Haven and London, 1981, pp. 318-9