DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1398#0008
PLATE 101.
VENUS, BY J. GIBSON, OF ROME.
AS in the first Great Exhibition of 1851, Gibson's " Hunter " formed one of the principal objects
of attraction to all lovers of art, so again in 1862 the tinted "Venus," by the same great
sculptor, was always surrounded by a crowd of admiring connoisseurs. This beautiful example of
the sculptor's art was contributed by Mrs. R. Berthon Preston, of Liverpool, who has favoured us
with the following notes concerning it.
The statue was commenced in 1851 for Mr. Robert Berthon Preston, and completed in about
four years, Gibson desiring the work to be a masterpiece, in token of esteem for some of his earliest
patrons and friends. The sculptor has chosen the original Venus of the Greeks, the protectress
of virtuous love, as an ideal type of beauty, the tortoise at her foot being emblematic of domestic
life. The object of the tinting—which is effected by the application of wax, slightly coloured
with yellow ochre, and rubbed in with warm cloth—was to give to the statue the appearance
of ivory, a material much in favour with the ancient Greek sculptors, on account of its subdued
tone, and which they frequently relieved by the addition of colour and gilding. The idea of
imitating the colour of life never entered into the mind of the sculptor, who desired only to soften
the effect of light and shadow in the figure. In her hand she carries the apple of Discord, on which
are the words "H KAAAH AABETfZ " (let it be given to the fairest), in accordance with the
well-known fable. The gold earrings were modelled by Castellani from antiques found in an Etruscan
tomb. The statue remained in Rome several years, where it was exhibited in a room specially
fitted up to bring out the effect, and acquired an extraordinary reputation. It was first publicly
shown in England at the Exhibition, and was placed in a temple erected purposely for it, and
other statues by the same sculptor, from the designs of Mr. Owen Jones, at the chief expense of
the contributor, Mrs. R. Berthon Preston.
Mr. Gibson, in selecting the first Venus of the ancient Greeks for his subject, has not followed the
practice of the earlier sculptors in closely draping the figure of a deity who, during the Archaic period,
was regarded, in common with the Astarte of the Phoenicians, rather as the goddess of fecundity and
marriage, and the mother of all living beings, than as a type of the highest female beauty. Down
to the time of Praxiteles she was usually draped and surrounded with the attributes of fertility.
He it was who, according to tradition, first represented the goddess perfectly nude. Although
this practice was at first considered indecorous, the genius of the sculptor and the success of the
sensuous school, of which he was the great chief, fixed and perpetuated the custom of representing
Venus in her character only of the highest type of perfect female beauty. Mr. Gibson appears
to have taken the well-known Venus de Medici as his model, a gracefully designed figure, of a
purely sensuous type, supposed by Thiersch, Winckelman, Meyer, and Flaxman, to be a copy
of the celebrated Venus of Cnidus by Praxiteles, which we have already mentioned as having been
the first nude representation of the goddess. Gibson has also followed the original in the gilding
of the hair, the earrings, and the bracelet on her left arm; it is possible also that the face and eyes
of the Venus de Medici may have been tinted, as is the case in this statue, the drapery of which fell
in somewhat heavy folds. On the base was the inscription, in Greek letters, " Gibson epoiei en
Roma."
Concerning the application of colour by the ancient Greek sculptors to their statues, there
can be no question but that it was practised to an extent which modern Europe until lately had no
conception of. It may indeed be taken as an indisputable fact, that down to the period of the
Renaissance, or at that time when the finest statues of Greek and Roman art were recovered from
their burial-places, all sculpture in every age and nation had been coloured so as to resemble life
as nearly as possible; and the method or extent to which it was so applied only rested on the
judgment and taste of the artist. How far such a practice may be desirable or can be defended,
is a question in which we have not here space to enter. In the present instance, the sculptor has
not gone to the extent of the ancients, and has merely so far applied light tints as to mellow
the cold whiteness of the marble, and suggest rather than imitate the presence of life.
VENUS, BY J. GIBSON, OF ROME.
AS in the first Great Exhibition of 1851, Gibson's " Hunter " formed one of the principal objects
of attraction to all lovers of art, so again in 1862 the tinted "Venus," by the same great
sculptor, was always surrounded by a crowd of admiring connoisseurs. This beautiful example of
the sculptor's art was contributed by Mrs. R. Berthon Preston, of Liverpool, who has favoured us
with the following notes concerning it.
The statue was commenced in 1851 for Mr. Robert Berthon Preston, and completed in about
four years, Gibson desiring the work to be a masterpiece, in token of esteem for some of his earliest
patrons and friends. The sculptor has chosen the original Venus of the Greeks, the protectress
of virtuous love, as an ideal type of beauty, the tortoise at her foot being emblematic of domestic
life. The object of the tinting—which is effected by the application of wax, slightly coloured
with yellow ochre, and rubbed in with warm cloth—was to give to the statue the appearance
of ivory, a material much in favour with the ancient Greek sculptors, on account of its subdued
tone, and which they frequently relieved by the addition of colour and gilding. The idea of
imitating the colour of life never entered into the mind of the sculptor, who desired only to soften
the effect of light and shadow in the figure. In her hand she carries the apple of Discord, on which
are the words "H KAAAH AABETfZ " (let it be given to the fairest), in accordance with the
well-known fable. The gold earrings were modelled by Castellani from antiques found in an Etruscan
tomb. The statue remained in Rome several years, where it was exhibited in a room specially
fitted up to bring out the effect, and acquired an extraordinary reputation. It was first publicly
shown in England at the Exhibition, and was placed in a temple erected purposely for it, and
other statues by the same sculptor, from the designs of Mr. Owen Jones, at the chief expense of
the contributor, Mrs. R. Berthon Preston.
Mr. Gibson, in selecting the first Venus of the ancient Greeks for his subject, has not followed the
practice of the earlier sculptors in closely draping the figure of a deity who, during the Archaic period,
was regarded, in common with the Astarte of the Phoenicians, rather as the goddess of fecundity and
marriage, and the mother of all living beings, than as a type of the highest female beauty. Down
to the time of Praxiteles she was usually draped and surrounded with the attributes of fertility.
He it was who, according to tradition, first represented the goddess perfectly nude. Although
this practice was at first considered indecorous, the genius of the sculptor and the success of the
sensuous school, of which he was the great chief, fixed and perpetuated the custom of representing
Venus in her character only of the highest type of perfect female beauty. Mr. Gibson appears
to have taken the well-known Venus de Medici as his model, a gracefully designed figure, of a
purely sensuous type, supposed by Thiersch, Winckelman, Meyer, and Flaxman, to be a copy
of the celebrated Venus of Cnidus by Praxiteles, which we have already mentioned as having been
the first nude representation of the goddess. Gibson has also followed the original in the gilding
of the hair, the earrings, and the bracelet on her left arm; it is possible also that the face and eyes
of the Venus de Medici may have been tinted, as is the case in this statue, the drapery of which fell
in somewhat heavy folds. On the base was the inscription, in Greek letters, " Gibson epoiei en
Roma."
Concerning the application of colour by the ancient Greek sculptors to their statues, there
can be no question but that it was practised to an extent which modern Europe until lately had no
conception of. It may indeed be taken as an indisputable fact, that down to the period of the
Renaissance, or at that time when the finest statues of Greek and Roman art were recovered from
their burial-places, all sculpture in every age and nation had been coloured so as to resemble life
as nearly as possible; and the method or extent to which it was so applied only rested on the
judgment and taste of the artist. How far such a practice may be desirable or can be defended,
is a question in which we have not here space to enter. In the present instance, the sculptor has
not gone to the extent of the ancients, and has merely so far applied light tints as to mellow
the cold whiteness of the marble, and suggest rather than imitate the presence of life.