Crouching Venus

The alabaster statuette of the "Crouching Venus" is a miniature copy of the antique Roman marble statue (height: 82 cm) housed in the collection of the Musei Vaticani (Museo Pio-Clementino) in Rome, modelled on the Greek bronze sculpture from around 250 BCE. It is believed that the creator of the original sculpture was Doidalses, a sculptor from Bithynia. The Roman statue of Venus was found in Salona in 1760. Venus, the goddess of love and beauty, was depicted naked, as she prepared to bathe - something that was a religious rite for her. She is depicted in a characteristic pose: crouched on her right knee, resting her left buttock on the vase lying in the rear corner of the base, her left hand is lowered over her left thigh and her right hand, raised just above it and bent at the elbow covers her breasts. The subject of the "Crouching Venus" was popular in the art of the 18th and 19th centuries. Copies of the statue close to the original size were made at that time; marble and bronze statuettes were popular. This statuette was made at the beginning of the 19th c., its author is not known. It was housed in the Galleria Testolini in Venice. It was acquired by the Łańcut Museum in 1978, enriching its large collection of copies of ancient sculptures made for interior decoration. The sculpture is displayed in the Ladies' Bedroom in the Ladies' Apartment. Barbara Trojnar