Venus
by ADRIANO FIORENTINO, Bronze, height 42 cm (with base)
In the second half of the fifteenth century, there was a demand of sculptures of classical subjects due to the rediscovery of antique sculpture. The pose of Adriano’s statuette probably was partly based on specific antique sculpture, but Venus standing on a shell shows also the influence of Botticelli’s famous painting The Birth of Venus, now in the Uffizi.
Adriano Fiorentino (Adriano de Giovanni de’ Maestri) was active in Florence. This statuette is one of the rare works signed by the artist: it is inscribed underneath in abbreviated Latin: HADRIANUS/ ME.F. (Adriano/ made/ me).