The statue of Venus herself (not including the podium on which she stands) is slightly larger than life sized, standing at about eight feet tall, and is made of white marble. Although she is nude, she is attempting to be modest and cover herself up. Her dress is folded over a stool next to herself. She seems to have just taken her clothes of; most scholars believe she was preparing for a purifying bath. Taken by surprise, her right arm reaches in front of her top, while her left hand blocks her bottom half.
Her pose is extremely similar to the pose she makes in Botticelli's The Birth of Venus. It's the same attempt of modesty with her hands in almost the same exact position. In fact, when we turned the corner and saw the statue, the painting was the first thing that came to my mind. Is this a Venus pose or something? Even her right knee is pent the same way as it is in the painting. She certainly does seem a lot more startled in the statue, whereas she's much more relaxed in her painting.
Alissa,
ReplyDeleteOverall: I think you spent too much time on context, and not enough time on the description. Furthermore, the description is a little prosaic, like a guidebook, where it should be more personal. Help us see it through your eyes: don't prepare us to see it. You might frame your piece with an unwritten "Here's what I see" and then launch in.
Content: Good comparisons between the stone Venus and Botticelli's painting: almost certainly he had studied this statue. At the same time, the comparison takes us out of the moment -- there's that art-history-texbook style again. There might be a way to do a more organic comparison that feels natural, so if you are called to do another on the next occasion (Galleria Borghese), give it a go.
Technical: Spelling errors and a sense of doing the assignment just to finish it. Linger, review, and revise. You can do better than this.
7/10