Venus Callipygia. From an archaeological model. 18th-19th century. Black patinated bronze. Slight signs of wear.

32 x 10 x 9 cm

This bronze was already part of the Farmene family's archaeological sculpture collection in Rome in the 16th century.

Found in the Domus Aurea, after various passages, it is now preserved in the Archaeological Museum of Naples. It is a Roman copy (2nd century AD) of a Greek bronze original (3rd century BC). The head was mutilated and the missing parts were integrated, as was the custom at the time.

The Greek term callipygia means "with beautiful buttocks"; in fact, the goddess uncovers herself and seems to be observing that part of her body.

Bronze replicas of this captivating subject were crafted from antiquity to the Neoclassical era and beyond. The great bronze masters, working between the 18th and 19th centuries, replicated all the most beautiful classical statues, indulging the prevailing taste for the antique.

The demand for "souvenirs" for foreign nobles returning home from the Grand Tour also played an important role in pushing the production of these bronzes.

At the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries, during the Neoclassical period, several renowned foundries attempted to produce these replicas of the antique. These include Valadier, Francesco Righetti, and Giuseppe Boschi. A little later in the 19th century, Zoffoli and, above all, Benedetto Boschetti, who inherited the entire neoclassical vocabulary while maintaining the very high standards it had achieved.

Our Venus Callipygia has no foundry marks, as sometimes happens even in the best ancient productions, but the exquisite level of workmanship and the beautiful transparent patina that distinguish her speak for themselves.

It is a casting, in my opinion, made between the 18th and 19th centuries by an unspecified Italian foundry, perhaps Roman.

Bibliography:
Andreina d'Agliano, Luca Melegati, Alvar Gonzales Palacios, Memories of the Ancient, Sculptures, Porcelains, and Furnishings at the Time of the Grand Tour, Silvana Editoriale, Cinisello Balsamo, 2008, the chapters dedicated to sculpture.