News from Italy
A French bride and Venus Victrix in Rome in 1700
by Andira Vitale
We are faced with one of the most controversial works of history. Some talked about Pauline Borghese’s nudity, and some spoke about Antonio Canova’s extraordinary realistic touches, especially his ability to make one feel the softness and shine of living skin. However, a careful reading of the details of the sculpture suggests the union of two of the most powerful families in Europe.
In that case, we follow the story of Bonaparte’s sister, Paolina, who went from France to Rome as a bride…
In the 1700s, a woman, Pauline, went from France to Italy as a bride. This woman was Napoleon Bonaparte’s sister. She was born on October 20, 1780, in Ajaccio, Corsica, the sixth child of the Bonaparte family. She was beautiful and proud of her appearance, especially her pale skin and attractive hands and feet. She loved to live in luxury and pleasure.
Pauline was marrying Victoire Leclerc, a French officer on her brother Napoleon’s team. Of course, this marriage took place at his brother’s request. Paolina was unhappy. Napoleon had sent the couple to the Caribbean island under the guise of military service to quell rumours about his sister’s various romantic indiscretions in Europe. They had a son. Her name was Dermide. One day, the whole family caught yellow fever, and her husband, Leclerc, died.
Napoleon wanted to strengthen his ties with French-occupied Italy, so he married Pauline to Roman nobleman Prince Camillo Borghese. Her marriage to the esteemed Borghese family, which occurred only eight months after Leclerc’s death, further shocked polite society. Camillo Borghese married Paolina Bonaparte, Napoleon’s beautiful and lively sister, in Paris in 1803. The First Consul, who would become emperor a year later, was happy to become related to a noble Roman family. Paolina was 23 years old and already the widow of General Leclerc. Camillo married her without waiting for the end of her year of widowhood. Together, they moved to Rome to Palazzo Borghese, where Paolina could dedicate herself to the life of luxury and entertainment that she loved so much.
However, Pauline could not find the happiness she sought in this marriage. Rumours about her marriage were reaching her brother. Napoleon wrote to his sister on April 6, 1804:
“Madame and my dear sister, I have learned with pain that you have not had the good sense to observe the manners and customs of the city of Rome. Love your husband and his family, be friendly, familiarise yourself with Roman life and remember this: If you follow bad advice, you can’t trust me anymore. You can be sure you will find no support in Paris, and I will never receive you there without your husband. If you argue with him, it will be your fault, and France will be closed. You will sacrifice your happiness and my respect.”
Later, Pauline fell ill, and her husband, Borghese, took her to Pisa’s baths. Pauline wanted to take her son Dermide with her, but her husband was against it. Instead, his six-year-old son was staying with Borghese’s brother. On August 14, 1804, during Pauline’s absence, the child was dying of fever and convulsions. Pauline held her husband Camillo Borghese responsible for Dermide’s death.
1806 Napoleon made Pauline Bonaparte Borghese Princess and Duchess of Guastalla in Italy. Pauline soon sold the duchy to Parma for six million francs, retaining only the title of Princess.
Pauline Bonaparte was not happily married but remained at home at Napoleon’s insistence. Although the two remained married, they lived separately. When Napoleon was exiled to Elba in 1814, Pauline liquidated her assets and joined him there. He was the only one of Napoleon’s brothers to do so. Pauline became the life and soul of Napoleon’s entourage and generously helped him meet their expenses.
Pauline’s health was deteriorating. He was also worried about Napoleon and hoped to be released or to join him in exile. Napoleon fell ill, and when he finally died on May 5, news had not yet reached Rome.
Pauline’s health deteriorated. In 1824, she petitioned the Pope to help her reconcile with her husband, Borghese, who was living with his mistress in Florence. She spent her last months with her husband, who died on June 9, 1825, at the age of 44. The cause of death was given as a tumour in the stomach. Pauline Bonaparte Borghese is buried in Rome’s Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore.
Michelangelo: “Every block of stone has a statue inside it, and the sculptor is responsible for discovering it.”
Although the marriage was not particularly happy, Camillo summoned the most illustrious artist of the moment to paint a portrait of his beautiful wife. The portrait of Paolina Borghese as the victorious Venus was commissioned by Prince Camillo Borghese to Antonio Canova in 1804 and was paid for 6000 scudi on 15 May 1808.
Canova hoped to portray Pauline in the guise of Diana, the virgin goddess of the hunt. But Pauline insisted on the goddess of love instead. It depicts Pauline lying on pillows and mattresses on a sofa, naked from the waist up, breasts exposed, her hair up and full of decorations, her right hand on her head, her left hand holding an apple, and her gaze turned to the side, as if someone had just entered the room. When asked if she was uncomfortable being naked, Pauline replied: “Oh, but the room was on fire.” said.
The ancient victorious Venus had militaristic connotations, like a Romanized version of the Greeks’ Aphrodite Areia. She was often shown as “fully armoured”, an inheritance from the Eastern goddess of war, Ishtar. During Roman times, generals were known to invoke Venus Victrix and pay their allegiance to her before the battle.
Paris, known for its justice, chose Venus as the most beautiful goddess of Olympus and gave her an apple. Pauline references the legend of the Doom of Paris with the apple she holds in her left hand. The symbol of the Borghese family was Venus. In this context, Venus was underlining the political legitimacy of the Borgese family, with whom Bonaparte had allied. The sculpture is enhanced by Domenico de Angelis’s 1779 painting The Apocalypse of Paris, which hangs from the ceiling and is directly inspired by the reliefs on the façade of the Villa Medici.
The ancient victorious Venus had militaristic connotations, like a Romanized version of the Greeks’ Aphrodite Areia. She was often shown as “fully armoured”, an inheritance from the Eastern goddess of war, Ishtar. During Roman times, generals were known to invoke Venus Victrix and pay their allegiance to her before the battle.
Paris, known for its justice, chose Venus as the most beautiful goddess of Olympus and gave her an apple. Pauline references the legend of the Doom of Paris with the apple she holds in her left hand. The symbol of the Borghese family was Venus. In this context, Venus was underlining the political legitimacy of the Borgese family, with whom Bonaparte had allied. The sculpture is enhanced by Domenico de Angelis’s 1779 painting The Apocalypse of Paris, which hangs from the ceiling and is directly inspired by the reliefs on the façade of the Villa Medici.
Today, art lovers can see Venus Victorious at Villa Borghese during museum hours. The sculpture was intended to be enjoyed in the evening by candlelight, as was fashionable in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Furthermore, the sculpture’s draped base originally contained a rotating mechanism. The mechanism was considered a way for viewers to view a work from all angles without moving.
“These nocturnal visions of Pauline Borghese as Venus were part of the fashion of looking at statues by torchlight that had originated in late 18th-century Rome,” writes Van Eck, noting that the French diarist Joseph Joubert “observed how, under such observation conditions, in the flickering light the statue seemed to move from the darkness towards the viewer. All this produced an almost disturbing suggestion of a living presence.”
Eventually, however, responses to the sculpture’s authenticity became so intense that Pauline Borghese requested its removal. The sculpture remained in a custom-made wooden case, under lock and key, for decades.
The sculpture was transported 1809 to the Chiablese palace in Turin, where Camillo resided as governor-general of the departments beyond the Alps. Sent back to Rome by the sea in 1814 from the port of Genoa, it was transferred to the Palazzo Borghese in Campo Marzio, where it remained on display even at night, illuminated by torches. In 1838, it was moved to the Villa Pinciana, where it was placed in the Room of Paris and Helen in a neoclassical setup. It was placed in its current position in 1889, following the themes narrated in the vault with the Stories of Venus and Aeneas by Domenico de Angelis.
Let’s give the last word to Pauline: “Every veil must fall before Canova”
