Venus Italica

Antonio Canova

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Canova's first marble Venus is in the Palazzo Pitti, Florence. Known as the Venus Italica, it was ordered in 1804 by Ludovico I, King of Etruria, as a replacement for the ancient Medici Venus that had been taken by the French for the Musée Napoleon. This replica, purchased from Canova's studio by the third marquess of Londonderry in late 1826 or early 1827, remained in Londonderry House, London, until 1962.

European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The fifty thousand objects in the Museum's comprehensive and historically important collection of European sculpture and decorative arts reflect the development of a number of art forms in Western European countries from the early fifteenth through the early twentieth century. The holdings include sculpture in many sizes and media, woodwork and furniture, ceramics and glass, metalwork and jewelry, horological and mathematical instruments, and tapestries and textiles. Ceramics made in Asia for export to European markets and sculpture and decorative arts produced in Latin America during this period are also included among these works.

Metropolitan Museum of Art