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Venus Verticordia
Sculptor:
Gibson, John
Commissioned:
Neeld, Joseph
White marble. Venus stands with her head slightly turned to the left, her hair is dressed in Hellenic fashion, and her left knee forward. Over her left wrist is a mantle, and she holds the apple awarded by Paris. On the base, on the viewer's right, there is a tortoise.
History note: Joseph Neeld; Captain L.W. Neeld; Mrs J. Bourne (née Celia Kathleen Mary Neeld); Christie's, 22 September, 1966, Catalogue of The Grittleton Marbles...p. 14, lot 14; sold to Perkins (600 guineas).
Given by the Friends of the Fitzwilliam Museum
Height: 174 cm
Method of acquisition: Given (1975-01-30) by The Friends of the Fitzwilliam Museum
19th Century, Mid#
Circa
1833
CE
-
Circa
1838
CE
Gibson recorded how the wealthy MP Joseph Neeld (1789–1856) had visited his studio in Rome several times before asking him to carve a ‘Venus, nude, but with some drapery modestly arranged without sacrificing too much of the form’. Inspired by Classical prototypes, Gibson showed the Roman goddess of love as an idealised female nude with elegant curves and soft modelling, holding the golden apple, awarded by Paris for her beauty. Although apples are often associated with carnal love, Gibson called his statue 'Venus Verticordia', or ‘the turner of men's hearts’ and later recalled how he had ‘endeavoured to give my Venus that spiritual elevation of character which results from purity and sweetness’. The Romans venerated Venus Verticordia on 1 April as a goddess of chastity. This accounts for the tortoise under her foot: since ancient times, the docile creature who keeps silent and never leaves its house had been a symbol of ‘ideal’ female domesticity. Phidias’ famous lost mid-5th-century BCE ivory and gold statue of Aphrodite at Elis (Greece) rested one foot on a tortoise, and this became a standard way for artists to show the chaste side of the love goddess’ complex character.
This sculpture was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1839 (no. 1303). Gibson’s composition was so popular that he produced several other versions, including the highly controversial Tinted Venus for the International Exhibition of 1862 (now Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool), which he brightly painted to imitate the original appearance of many ancient statues.
Carving : White marble, carved in the round
Accession number: M.4-1975
Primary reference Number: 31066
External ID: CAM_CCF_M_4_1975
Sketchfab model
Stable URI
Owner or interested party:
The Fitzwilliam Museum
Associated department:
Applied Arts
This record can be cited in the Harvard Bibliographic style using the text below:
3D view
The Fitzwilliam Museum (2024) "Venus Verticordia" Web page available at: https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/31066 Accessed: 2024-11-04 18:22:14
To cite this record on Wikipedia you can use this code snippet:
{{cite web|url=https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/31066
|title=Venus Verticordia
|author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2024-11-04 18:22:14|publisher=The
University of Cambridge}}
To call these data via our API (remember this needs to be authenticated) you can use this code snippet:
https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/api/v1/objects/object-31066
To use this as a simple code embed, copy this string:
<div class="text-center">
<figure class="figure">
<img src="https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/aa/aa37/M_4_1975_1_201503_mfj22_dc2.jpg"
alt="Venus Verticordia"
class="img-fluid" />
<figcaption class="figure-caption text-info">Venus Verticordia</figcaption>
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</div>
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