Auguste Renoir, Venus Victorious 1914, cast ?c.1916
Display caption
The figure of Venus in this sculpture is based on the image of the goddess in a painting by Renoir, 'The Judgement of Paris'. In Greek myth Aphrodite (known to the Romans as Venus) competed for the prize of a golden apple, which she won by promising Paris that he could marry Helen of Troy, the most beautiful woman in the world. Renoir's sculpture shows Venus holding the apple in her moment of triumph. Renoir's conception of this work was influenced by memories of antique sculpture and by the 'modern classicism' of the contemporary sculptor Maillol. Severely crippled by arthritis, Renoir was helped in making this sculpture by an assistant, Richard Guino.
August 2004
Other works of art you may be interested in
Find similar artworks
Artist
Auguste Renoir
(7)
Category
Sculpture
(1,952)
Decade
1910-9
(817)
Subject
emotions, concepts and ideas
(7,970)
universal concepts
(1,991)
beauty
(76)
objects
(12,243)
clothing and personal effects
(3,860)
drapery
(110)
food and drink
(539)
fruit, apple
(58)
religion and belief
(2,375)