Venus leaning against an amphora, Neoclassical Period Late 18th-early 19th century

This type of small bronze sculptures depicting Venus in balance on one foot, caught in the act of drying herself after a bath or removing a sandal, are mostly free interpretations of a Greek-Roman prototype known in various examples and materials. Among many variants in museums and private collections, one can recall the bronze model at the Archaeological Museum of Padua and the one from the mid-18th century excavations of Herculaneum, now preserved in the National Archaeological Museum of Naples.

Our version refers to these iconographic models, elaborating the original motif by incorporating an amphora on which the goddess rests while drying herself with a softly falling drapery.

This small bronze was probably meant to evoke a sense of antiquity, in line with the neoclassical archaeological taste of the time.