Small Victorious Venus

With her full figure and soft face, Renoir’s Venus represents the artist’s ideal female type. In her right hand, the goddess of love and beauty holds an apple, a reference to her victory at the Judgment of Paris—the beauty contest among three goddesses that helped set the Trojan War in motion. A relief on the base of the sculpture depicts the event. Late in his life, Renoir was almost completely crippled with arthritis. With the assistance of another artist, Richard Guino, he fulfilled a long-standing desire to produce sculpture. Guino acted as Renoir’s hands, following the direct instructions of the master as he modeled clay or wax. A larger version of Victorious Venus was the only sculpture that Renoir worked on himself, modeling the head.