Venus: Detail of head

Detail of head ; A work by Giambologna, commissioned around 1575 by the Medicis for the Boboli Gardens in Florence. The artist has infused the formal structure of the Venus with a sense of movement and precarious balance, which gives a decidedly anticlassical air to its Michelangelesque forms. The figure is shown with an almost unnatural twisting movement that originates in the left shoulder, which is turned backwards, and terminates in her hand which is resting on some drapery, which in turn covers an amphora. Her face, which is looking down, is turned so far to her right that her chin is in... Mehr ...