Bulfinch’s Mythology · Chapter
The Venus de Medici explained
This chapter describes the Venus de Medici statue, its supposed origin with the sculptor Cleomenes of Athens around 200 BC, the story that the artist used the most perfect female forms as models, and literary allusions to the statue by Thom
What happens
This chapter describes the Venus de Medici statue, its supposed origin with the sculptor Cleomenes of Athens around 200 BC, the story that the artist used the most perfect female forms as models, and literary allusions to the statue by Thomson and Byron.
Themes in this chapter
Mortality and Immortality
The statue immortalizes the ideal of female beauty, outlasting the mortal models who posed for it.
Characters to notice
- Venus
The goddess Venus is the subject of the Medici statue, described as the embodiment of female beauty.
Key passages
“So stands the statue that enchants the world; So bending tries to veil the matchless boast, The mingled beauties of exulting Greece.”
The statue stands as if alive, enchanting all who see it, its pose modestly concealing its perfect form, which combines the finest beauties of ancient Greece.
Thomson's allusion to the Venus de Medici in his poem 'Summer'.
“There, too, the goddess loves in stone, and fills The air around with beauty;”
In the Florence Museum, the goddess Venus, carved in marble, radiates beauty that seems to permeate the very air.
Byron's reference to the Venus de Medici in the Florence Museum.