About this piece
back to topAn antique 19th century terracotta figure of Venus with the apple by Danish artist Peter Ipsen.
Finely modelled in a pale orange terracotta, this depiction is after Bertel Thorvaldsen’s (1770-1844) original sculpture showing Venus holding a golden apple after a beauty contest.
The Roman goddess of love is seen holding the prize awarded to her by Paris, the Trojan prince, for beating Juno and Minerva.
With one hand she is picking up her clothes from a tree stump, while in the other she holds the apple of beauty up to her admiring gaze.
After Venus showed her gratitude to Paris by promising him the most beautiful woman on earth, Helen, who was abucted by the prince from Greece, which inevitably started the Trojan war.
This depiction is stamped ‘P. Ipsen, Kjobenhavn, Eneret’ to the reverse, Ipsen was an artist of the 19th century renowned for making neoclassical works of art in terracotta. This is just one such example of Ipsen’s work, demonstrating his skill in sculpting fine detail. An excellent collector’s piece!
