Venus Victrix

Canova's position in relation to antiquity was not one of passive receptivity. His lack of theoretical knowledge kept him from understanding ancient art in the abstract sense, and instead he favored single ancient works, sharply individualized in their autonomy and originality. By these examples he was spurred to create an integrated, contemporary style; since, by an illusion common in the Enlightenment, he saw his time as a new Golden Age, he was obliged to maintain that only a higher harmony and Olympian grace could be its proper attributes. It was a fragile Utopia, but one can easily understand how natural it was to equate classicism and Napoleon's empire, and also how dutifully Canova must have sought an authentic correspondence of his Venus to his model, Pauline Bonaparte. This is the first in a line of modern Venuses, and only a sculptor familiar with the paintings of Pittoni and Piazzetta could so skillfully have "brushed" her shoulders with light.