Venus with a Burning Urn
Unknown Artist
c. 1500–1520
Medium
gilt bronze
Dimensions
19.6 × 6.3 × 4 cm · with base: 28.6 × 7 × 7 cm
Classification
Sculpture
Department
European Painting and Sculpture
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
John L. Severance Fund
Accession Number
1948.171
About this artwork
Venus is the Roman goddess of many virtues, including Love, Charity, Fertility, and Victory. Here, Venus is represented as the goddess of Charity. She wears a crown, as Charity is often depicted as the Queen of the Virtues. The flaming lamp in Venus's left hand was also a symbol of Charity in Venice, where this piece is thought to have originated. The bent fingers of her right hand are bent suggest that Venus may have once held another object. Renaissance sculptors often looked back to antiquity...