Bathing Venus

Giambologna

early 17th century · Bronze · European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

Venus’s sinuous pose and sleek surface invited Renaissance viewers to turn the statuette around in their hands and delight the senses of sight and touch. Giambologna invented the groundbreaking composition, called a figura serpentinata, in which bodies "twist like flames" and can be appreciated equally from every vantage point. This bronze’s immaculate casting and fine tooling reveal the goldsmith training of Susini, who was Giambologna’s principal assistant.

Artist

Giambologna

Date

early 17th century

Medium

Bronze

Culture

Italian, Florence

Department

European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

Credit line

Gift of Ogden Mills, 1924