Antonio Frilli

The discovery of Willem van Tetrode’s bronze reduction of the Venus de’ Medici revealed that the iconic antique marble was known as early as the mid-16th century. By 1638, the Venus was located in the Villa Medici in Rome, from which she acquired her title. In 1677, the sculpture was sent to Florence and installed in the Tribuna of the Uffizi, where she remains to this day, having been briefly replaced by Antonio Canova’s Venus Italica during her sojourn in France between 1803 and 1815.

The Venus de’ Medici counts among the most glorified and controversial statues from antiquity. Every inch of the marble has been scrutinised in her long reception history, from Lord Byron’s gushing “description of the indescribable” to the Duke of Shrewsbury’s criticism of her arms. It is perhaps partly because of her illustrious position and provenance that the Venus de’ Medici is the most famous of several ancient marbles depicting the goddess in the alluring pudica pose. The statue’s notorious beauty inspired countless copies throughout the centuries, in various media and sizes. The present marble is a faithful copy and a particularly fine example carved by the Italian sculptor, Antonio Frilli. Frilli founded his eponymous gallery in Florence in 1860 and specialised in producing decorative works for the international market. He was one of many Italian artists of the 19th century who executed copies after Ancient, Renaissance and Neoclassical compositions.