A Fine Quality Late 19th Century Statuary Marble Statue of ‘ Crouching Venus ' by Galleira Fratelli Lapini Firenze

A fine quality late 19th Century Carrera Marble statue of ‘ Crouching Venus’ Marble statue of a naked Aphrodite crouching at her bath, also known as Lely’s Venus. After the Greek original, 2nd century AD. Inscribed: "Venere Anadyomenes Vaticano" Signed: Galleria Fratelli Lapini Firenze Cesare Lapini (1848-c.1910) was an Italian sculptor. Cesare Lapini notably explored the theme of women (religious or mythological figures) in his work, in a style sometimes reminiscent of Antonio Canova. He sculpted several bathers and female figures, often in poses evoking modesty. Cesare Lapini belonged to the Florentine school, then very fashionable at the end of the 19th century, which included sculptors such as Vittorio Caradossi, Fernando Vichi, and Pasquale Romanelli. He produced a significant number of marble sculptures for an increasingly international clientele at the turn of the century. In the tradition of the Grand Tour, the European aristocracy, alongside a new class of industrialists, entrepreneurs, and financiers from the Americas, visited Florence, purchasing allegorical and genre sculptures, works based on Antiquities, and busts. Lapini and his family established important workshops and galleries in Florence and exhibited at the Esposizione Generele Italiana in Turin in 1884 and in Rome in 1888 before successfully expanding internationally by participating in Great Exhibitions and Universal Exhibitions. Lapini received a diploma at an exhibition of contemporary Italian art in London in 1888, presided over by the King of Italy and HRH the Prince of Wales. Lapini presented his works masterfully at the 1900 Paris Universal Exhibition and an equally impressive stand at the 1904 Saint-Louis Universal Exhibition in the name of "E. & C. Lapini Bros & Sons of Florence," receiving a Grand Prix.

width

12 in.

height

26.5 in.

depth

14.5 in.

Circa 1880