Episode 336 - Canova’s “Paolina Bonaparte as Venus Victrix”

Episode 336 – Canova’s “Paolina Bonaparte as Venus Victrix”

June 25, 2025

Napoleon’s younger sister, Paolina Bonaparte, married Prince Camillo Borghese in 1803. One year later the prince commissioned Antonio Canova to carve his new wife as the mythological goddess of chastity, Diana. The licentious Paolina laughed off the suggestion claiming that no one would be believe her a virgin and chose to be represented scandalously as the semi-nude Venus instead.

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