Venus Callipigia, after an archeological model, 18th-19th century

This original bronze was part of the 16th-century archaeological collection of the Farnese family in Rome (now in the Archaeological Museum in Naples). It is a Roman (2nd century AD) copy of a Greek bronze original (3rd century BC), found in the Domus Aurea. The missing head was replaced as it was custom at the time.

The Greek term callipygia means ‚of the beautiful buttocks". Bronze replicas of this captivating subject were produced from antiquity up until the Neoclassical era and beyond. The demand for "souvenirs" for foreign aristocrats returning home from Grand Tours also played an important role in stimulating the production of these bronzes. The great bronze masters such as Valadier, Francesco Righetti, and Giuseppe Boschi replicated all the most beautiful classical statues, and later, in the 19th century, Zoffoli and Benedetto Boschetti.

Our Venus Callipigia has no foundry marks but represents an exquisite level of workmanship and beautiful transparent patina.

It was probably cast between the 18th and 19th centuries by an undefined Italian foundry, possibly Roman.