The Sculpture Museum - Catalog - Page 31
discovered as early as 1556, but it was definitely recorded in the Palazzo Farnese
in 1594. In 1786 it was decided that the statue be moved to Naples, but it was first
sent to Carlo Albacini for restoration. The marble arrived at the Capodimonte
in February 1792 and was later transferred to the Museo degli Studi (now Museo
Nazionale) before May 1802. Famous copies include the marble which Gustavus III
of Sweden’s commissioned from Tobias Sergel, intended as a pair to an earlier
version of the Apollino that he already possessed, to be displayed in the ‘Hall
of Mirrors’ in Stockholm’s Royal Palace. There is also a bronze statuette in the
Ashmolean Museum, attributed to the Flemish sculptor Hans Mont, which was
possibly made before 1571, which could make it the earliest known reproduction of
this ancient model.
related literature
A. Wilton and I. Bignamini (eds.), ‘Memories of Italy’, Grand Tour: The Lure of Italy in the Eighteenth
Century, London, 1996, p. 280
C. Teolato, ‘Roman bronzes at the court of Gustavus III of Sweden: Zoffoli, Valadier and Righetti’,
The Burlington Magazine, CLIII, November 2011, pp. 727–33
F. Haskell and N. Penny, Taste and the Antique: The Lure of Classical Sculpture 1500–1900, New Haven
and London, 1981, pp. 146–48, 316–18
G.A. Mansuelli, Galleria Degli Uffizi: Le Sculture, Parte I, Rome 1958
H. Honour, ‘Bronze Statuettes by Giacomo and Giovanni Zoffoli’, Connoisseur, November 1961,
pp. 198–205
fig. 2
Roman, 1st–2nd century ad,
Callipygian Venus, marble, 160 cm high
Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Naples
