Venus Felix
Octagonal Court
Pio Clementine Museum
Vatican City
Rome Italy
2016

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venus_Felix_(sculpture)

The Venus Felix is a sculpture of Venus and her son Cupid which dates back to the 2nd-century AD. It was dedicated by Sallustia and Helpidus to Venus Felix. Its head resembles Faustina the Younger. It is now held at the Pius-Clementine museum of the Vatican Museums, Rome, and is displayed in the Octagon of the Hermes Hall.

The Venus Felix statue is not a copy but is reminiscent of the great masterpiece, Aphrodite of Cnidus by Praxiteles made in the 4th-century BCE. The statue has a distinctive description on its base which indicates its votive purpose.

The description is thought to attest the statue is dedicated to Venus Felix by Sallustia, a matron whose portrait can be traced back to the 2nd-century AD, and by Helpidus in all likelihood, who stands next to her in the guise of Eros as he hands her an object which could be a mirror.


Octagonal Court
The Octagonal Court used to be known as the Cortile delle Statue. It was home to the first nucleus of antique classical statues in the pontifical collections when Pope Julius II della Rovere (1503-1513) displayed an extraordinary collection of antique sculpture here, aimed at bringing once again to life the Rome of the Caesars in the Rome of the Popes. During the late 1700s, when two Popes, Clement XIV and Pius VI, decided to transform the collection in a purpose-built museum, the Court was included in the new museum project and became its fulcrum. And although there have been many changes which have been made over the centuries, some of the sculptures on display, such as the Laocoön and the Belvedere Apollo, are in the places they have held since the early 1500s.




Sallustia Barbia Orbiana was born to influential Roman Senator Seius Sallustius in the early 3rd Century AD. She was briefly one of the three wives of Alexander Severus, and in August 225, became an Augusta of the Roman Empire.
She was known for her beauty, which was captured in multiple works of art.

This notable statue of Orbiana, represented as Venus Felix, was unearthed near the church of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme. The marble was dedicated the empress by her liberti, Helpidius and Sallustia.

Roman marble sculpture
About 1st half of the 3rd Cent. AD
Rome, Vatican Museums
Museo Pio-Clementino



Pio Clementino Museum
The nucleus of the pontifical collections of classical sculpture dates back to the original collection of pope Julius II (1503-1513) which was housed in the Cortile delle Statue (today the Octagonal Court). During the second half of the 18th century the pontifical collections were enormously expanded both as a result of excavations being carried out in Rome and Lazio, and by donations from collectors and antiquaries. The influence of Enlightenment thinking resulted in the inauguration of a museum in the modern sense, open to the public and explicitly charged with the task of safeguarding antique works of art, and promoting the study and understanding of them. The Museum is called Pio Clementino after the two popes who oversaw its foundation, Clement XIV Ganganelli (1769-1774) and Pius VI Braschi (1775-1799). The museum fills several large exhibition halls which were obtained by adapting pre-existing rooms with new constructions both within and adjacent to the small Belvedere Palace of Innocent VIII (1484-92). Antique sculpture was brought here and ancient roman pieces have often had their missing parts completely restored. The neo-classical architecture was realised under the direction of Alessandro Dori, Michelangelo Simonetti, and Giuseppe Camporese and embellished by the work of a large number of painters and decorators.
With the Treaty of Tolentino (1797) the Papal States were forced to give up the principal masterpieces in the Museum to Napoleon and they were transported to Paris. Much later, following the defeat of Napoleon and the Congress of Vienna (1815), and thanks to the diplomatic efforts of Antonio Canova, the greater part of the works were recovered.