拍品 1006* - A216 Works of Art & Decorative Arts - Donnerstag, 26. März 2026, 01.30 PM
A MARBLE TORSO OF THE “BARTHOLONI” VENUS
Roman, Imperial period, ca. 2nd century AD. Knidian type, after the Hellenistic model by Praxiteles, “Aphrodite of Knidos” (ca. 350/340 BC).
Carrara marble, sculpted in the round. Venus, Goddess of love, stands naked, leaning slightly forward in a contrapposto pose with her weight on her right leg. Her left leg is extended and bent at the knee. Remains of the original support on the outside of the thigh. The right arm was originally lowered, with the hand, which is now missing, positioned above the pubic triangle. The left shoulder is slightly pulled back. An old engraved inventory number, 170, is visible on the support. Mounted on a later rotating base.
H without base 120 cm, H with base 184 cm.
Repairs. Cleaned. Rubbing and chipping. Fillings.
Provenance:
- By inheritance, in the same family collection at Château Sans-Souci, Versoix, Switzerland.
- Jacques-Arnold Amstutz, acquired from the above together with the inventory of Château Sans-Souci, Versoix, Switzerland, 1 March 1926.
- Property of S.I. Sans-Souci, Château Sans-Souci, Versoix, Switzerland, acquired from the above together with the inventory of Château Sans-Souci, Versoix, Switzerland, 20 May 1926.
- Auction Ch. Amann and J.-P. Junot: “Château Bartholoni, domaine ‘Sans-Souci’, Route de Suisse, Versoix près Genève,” Geneva, 26 September 1957, Lot No. 324.
- Auction, Coins and Medals A.G.: “Works of Art from Antiquity - Auction XXII,” Basel, 13 May 1961, Lot No. 20.
- The Henri E. Smeets Collection (1905–1980), Weert, Netherlands.
- Sotheby's auction: “The Smeets Collection of Antiquities,” London, 7 November 1977, Lot No. 194 (probably unsold).
- Sotheby's auction: “Property of Henri Smeets of Weert, The Netherlands; Antiquities.” London, 4 December 1978, Lot No. 210.
- Private collection, Switzerland, acquired at the above auction.
Exhibited:
- Museum The Royal Castle in Warsaw: “Memory of Antiquity and the Early Renaissance,” 17 July–15 November 2023, Warsaw, Poland, No.159 (with exhibition catalog).
Literature:
- E. Godet et al.: A Private Collection: A Catalogue of The Henri Smeets Collection, Weert. 1975, No. 217.
- Antonio Corso: The Art of Praxiteles, Vol. II: The Mature Years. Rome 2004, pp. 151 and 225, No. 269.
An ideal of beauty that has survived for millennia and continues to influence us today.
The Venus sculpture impresses not only with its elegance, but also with a provenance that dates back to the 19th century. The name of the “Bartholoni” Venus on offer is based on its ownership history, which can be traced back to Jean-François Bartholoni (1796–1881) as its first known owner. The Bartholoni family, originally from Tuscany, moved to Geneva around the beginning of the 17th century, which is why it is possible that the Venus sculpture had been in the family's possession for much longer than is known. The old inventory number 170 may indicate such an origin. At a young age, Jean-François Bartholoni moved to Paris, where he became a successful banker and a pioneer and promoter of the railway system in France and Switzerland. His attachment to his origins in Geneva and his Italian roots is reflected in the construction of the Villa Bartholoni (now the Musée d'histoire des sciences) in Geneva, which is entirely in the Italian style, and in the founding of the Geneva Conservatory of Music.
One of four children, Jean-François Bartholoni's son Charles (1841–1921) had the Château Sans-Souci built in Versoix between 1882 and 1884. As can be seen from archive photos and the later auction announcement, the castle was lavishly furnished with sculptures, furniture, paintings, silver, and other decorative art. In 1926, Charles' descendants sold the castle and its contents to Jacques-Arnold Amstutz, who in turn sold the entire purchase to the Société Immobilière (S.I.) Sans-Souci after less than three months. It was not until 1957 that there was another change of ownership and a public event, when Château Bartholoni was auctioned off and the furniture and works of art were also offered for sale. The sculpture of Venus was probably sold at this auction, but it reappeared in 1961 at another auction in Basel. It is unclear whether it then found its way directly or indirectly into the collection of Henri E. Smeets (1905–1980). The Dutch antique collector spent 25 years amassing artworks from Egypt, the Middle East, the Iberian Peninsula, Sardinia, and the Greek, Etruscan, Roman, and Byzantine worlds. His important collection was auctioned at Sotheby's in 1977 before his death, and the Venus on offer thus found its way back into a Swiss private collection.
It is not surprising that the “Bartholoni” Venus on offer has already been incorporated into well-known collections, as the Greek Aphrodite of Knidos, which served as a model, has always attracted great attention and fascination, and continues to influence art to this day. Praxiteles created his innovative, nude, three-dimensional, life-size goddess ca. 350–340 BC. Praxiteles originally offered his Aphrodite to the city of Kos, which rejected this daring novelty, but it was subsequently well-received in the city of Knidos. Due to a fire, it was only preserved until 476 AD. However, thanks to its fame, beauty, and ideal proportions, it was documented by renowned philosophers such as Cicero, Pliny, and Lucian, and copied by Greek and Roman sculptors in all dimensions and materials, thus spreading its popularity. One of the most famous copies of the Knidean Aphrodite is the Capitoline Venus (Musei Capitolini Inv. No. MC0409). These physical and written “witnesses” and variants, as well as their depiction on coins, help to reconstruct an idea of what Praxiteles' Aphrodite of Knidos probably looked like. With the spread of Greek and Roman copies, the female nude sculpture of Aphrodite was transformed into a Latin Venus and adorned not only private interiors but also public buildings and temples.
Put simply, Aphrodite is the goddess of love and beauty. As the epitome of ancient aesthetics, she, or rather her Roman counterpart Venus, continues to influence our idea of beauty to this day. Her popularity and the debate surrounding her and her significance are revealed in her numerous depictions in the canon of art history. Significant works range from Botticelli's Birth of Venus, ca. 1585 (Le Gallerie degli Uffizi Inv. No. 1890 n. 878), through all eras, to the present day, including critical explorations such as Niki de Saint Phalle's “Black Venus,” 1965–67 at the Whitney Museum (Inv. No. 68.73). In her book, Christine Mitchell Havelock also summarizes how the significance of Aphrodite and Venus has survived for millennia and continues to shape art: "... [the nude Aphrodite figures] ... have a more universal meaning: they are ideal conceptions of sexuality and the nature of love. They also express the vitality of a new, not a declining, period of art history. As in the past, Greek artists were responding imaginatively to a valid but different challenge. Praxiteles had pointed the way." (The Aphrodite of Knidos and Her Successors. Michigan 1995, p. 144.)
The fact that the “Bartholoni” Venus is a museum artifact is underscored not least by the fact that it was part of the exhibition "The Awakened. The Ruins of Antiquity and the Birth of the Italian Renaissance" from 18 July-15 October 2023, at the Royal Castle in Warsaw. Together with other sculptures from Antiquity, their appeal and influence on Renaissance art was highlighted, with the exhibition bringing together important works from renowned museums, including the Gallerie degli Uffizi, the Louvre, and the British Museum.
The Venus sculpture impresses not only with its elegance, but also with a provenance that dates back to the 19th century. The name of the “Bartholoni” Venus on offer is based on its ownership history, which can be traced back to Jean-François Bartholoni (1796–1881) as its first known owner. The Bartholoni family, originally from Tuscany, moved to Geneva around the beginning of the 17th century, which is why it is possible that the Venus sculpture had been in the family's possession for much longer than is known. The old inventory number 170 may indicate such an origin. At a young age, Jean-François Bartholoni moved to Paris, where he became a successful banker and a pioneer and promoter of the railway system in France and Switzerland. His attachment to his origins in Geneva and his Italian roots is reflected in the construction of the Villa Bartholoni (now the Musée d'histoire des sciences) in Geneva, which is entirely in the Italian style, and in the founding of the Geneva Conservatory of Music.
One of four children, Jean-François Bartholoni's son Charles (1841–1921) had the Château Sans-Souci built in Versoix between 1882 and 1884. As can be seen from archive photos and the later auction announcement, the castle was lavishly furnished with sculptures, furniture, paintings, silver, and other decorative art. In 1926, Charles' descendants sold the castle and its contents to Jacques-Arnold Amstutz, who in turn sold the entire purchase to the Société Immobilière (S.I.) Sans-Souci after less than three months. It was not until 1957 that there was another change of ownership and a public event, when Château Bartholoni was auctioned off and the furniture and works of art were also offered for sale. The sculpture of Venus was probably sold at this auction, but it reappeared in 1961 at another auction in Basel. It is unclear whether it then found its way directly or indirectly into the collection of Henri E. Smeets (1905–1980). The Dutch antique collector spent 25 years amassing artworks from Egypt, the Middle East, the Iberian Peninsula, Sardinia, and the Greek, Etruscan, Roman, and Byzantine worlds. His important collection was auctioned at Sotheby's in 1977 before his death, and the Venus on offer thus found its way back into a Swiss private collection.
It is not surprising that the “Bartholoni” Venus on offer has already been incorporated into well-known collections, as the Greek Aphrodite of Knidos, which served as a model, has always attracted great attention and fascination, and continues to influence art to this day. Praxiteles created his innovative, nude, three-dimensional, life-size goddess ca. 350–340 BC. Praxiteles originally offered his Aphrodite to the city of Kos, which rejected this daring novelty, but it was subsequently well-received in the city of Knidos. Due to a fire, it was only preserved until 476 AD. However, thanks to its fame, beauty, and ideal proportions, it was documented by renowned philosophers such as Cicero, Pliny, and Lucian, and copied by Greek and Roman sculptors in all dimensions and materials, thus spreading its popularity. One of the most famous copies of the Knidean Aphrodite is the Capitoline Venus (Musei Capitolini Inv. No. MC0409). These physical and written “witnesses” and variants, as well as their depiction on coins, help to reconstruct an idea of what Praxiteles' Aphrodite of Knidos probably looked like. With the spread of Greek and Roman copies, the female nude sculpture of Aphrodite was transformed into a Latin Venus and adorned not only private interiors but also public buildings and temples.
Put simply, Aphrodite is the goddess of love and beauty. As the epitome of ancient aesthetics, she, or rather her Roman counterpart Venus, continues to influence our idea of beauty to this day. Her popularity and the debate surrounding her and her significance are revealed in her numerous depictions in the canon of art history. Significant works range from Botticelli's Birth of Venus, ca. 1585 (Le Gallerie degli Uffizi Inv. No. 1890 n. 878), through all eras, to the present day, including critical explorations such as Niki de Saint Phalle's “Black Venus,” 1965–67 at the Whitney Museum (Inv. No. 68.73). In her book, Christine Mitchell Havelock also summarizes how the significance of Aphrodite and Venus has survived for millennia and continues to shape art: "... [the nude Aphrodite figures] ... have a more universal meaning: they are ideal conceptions of sexuality and the nature of love. They also express the vitality of a new, not a declining, period of art history. As in the past, Greek artists were responding imaginatively to a valid but different challenge. Praxiteles had pointed the way." (The Aphrodite of Knidos and Her Successors. Michigan 1995, p. 144.)
The fact that the “Bartholoni” Venus is a museum artifact is underscored not least by the fact that it was part of the exhibition "The Awakened. The Ruins of Antiquity and the Birth of the Italian Renaissance" from 18 July-15 October 2023, at the Royal Castle in Warsaw. Together with other sculptures from Antiquity, their appeal and influence on Renaissance art was highlighted, with the exhibition bringing together important works from renowned museums, including the Gallerie degli Uffizi, the Louvre, and the British Museum.
CHF 500 000 / 800 000 | (€ 515 460 / 824 740)
以瑞士法郎銷售 CHF 1 171 000 (包含買家佣金)
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