V E N 



fhe .appears herfelf fupported by a Triton, having a 

 buckler in her hand, on which is reprefeiited a head ; 

 fometimes mounted upon fea-horfes, fhe feems to ficim over 

 the waves of the fea, her head being covered with a veil 

 which fwells in the wind, with Cupid fwimming at her fide. 

 All oar at the foot of the goddefs feems to reprefent the 

 Venus Pelagia or Marine ; and the figure which fhe holds in 

 her hand, a cornucopia, exprefTes the blefTings produced 

 by maritime commerce. There is alfo a pifture of the Venus 

 Defidiofa in the Barberini palace at Rome, which is one of 

 the fineft-coloured pidlures that is left us by the ancients ; 

 the hair of whofe head may be compared with Guido's, and 

 the colouring of the flefh reminds us of Titian. Part of 

 this pifture is loft, and part reftored by Carlo Marat. 

 Venus is defcribed by Statius (lib. i. fylv. v. 56.) much in 

 the fame manner as fhe is reprefented in the Barberini 

 picture. 



We fhall only add, that Venus is fometimes defcribed by 

 the poets of the third age under the charafter of the goddefs 

 of jcaloufy, rather than as the goddefs of love ; in which 

 Valerius Flaccus (Argon, ii. v. 106.) and Statius (Theb. 

 v. v. 69. ) have drawn two very terrible piAures of her. 

 Spence's Polymetis, p. 74. 



Venus de Msdicis, in the hiftory of Ancient Sculpture, a 

 famous ftatue of white marble, about five feet high, brought 

 from the Medicis palace at Rome to Florence, by order of 

 duke Cofmo III., and now Handing in the great duke's 

 palace. The hips, legs, and arms, were broken off by 

 the removal of this flatue ; but they have been rejoined 

 with an art, that renders their former feparation imper- 

 ceptible. The infcription on the bafe intimates that this 

 was the work of Cleomenes, an Athenian, the fon of 

 Apollodorus : the pedeflal is modern ; the ftatue feems 

 to bear a little forwards ; the right knee advances a little ; 

 the left-hand is placed before that part which diftin- 

 guilhes the fexes, and the right acrofs her breafts ; yet 

 without touching the body. The head inchnes a little 

 to the left fhoulder ; fo that her face feems to be turned 

 away a little from the obferver : and from this circum- 

 flance fome have taken occafion to remark, that the hair 

 of the head of this Venus exprefTes three different pafTions ; 

 as you firft approach her, you perceive averiion or denial 

 in her look ; as you advance a ftep or two nearer, fhe 

 (hews compliance ; and one ftep more to the right, it is 

 faid, turns into a little infidious and infulting fmile : but 

 Mr. Spence does not allow that this account is juftified 

 by the ftatue itfelf. 



The attitude of the Venus de Medici is peculiarly 

 graceful : that attitude may be defcribed in two verfes of 

 Ovid, Art. Am. v. 614. 



" Ipfa Venus pubem, quoties velamina ponit, 

 Protegitur laeva femi-redufta manu." 



The bloom of youth, the pleafing foftnefs of her look, and 

 her beauty and modefty, feem to rival each other in the 

 charms of her countenance. Her perfon is fomewhat plump, 

 and the flefh is fo admirably executed, that it feems fo foft 

 as if it would yield to the touch. Time has given to the 

 white marble a yellowifh hue, though ftill in the fun-fhine 

 it is almoft tranfparent ; her hair is brown, which may be 

 no more than the faded gilding not unufual among the 

 ancients. The head, which is faid to be too fmall in pro- 

 portion to the other parts, is fufpefted by fome not to have 

 been executed by the fame artift who made the body : this 

 will ever be the ftandard of female beauty and foftnefs : 

 the breafts are alfo the fineft that can be conceived, fmall, 

 diftinft, and delicate, fuggefting an idea of foftnefs, which 



V E N 



no copies can imitate, and alfo of firmnefs : from the 

 breafts, her fhape begins to diminifh gradually down to her 

 waift ; but with an exquifite finenefs of fhape, the Venus of 

 Medici lias what the Romans call corpus foTidum, and the 

 French the enbonpoint ; and her waift in particular is not 

 reprefented as ftinted by art, but as exaftly proportioned 

 by nature to all the other parts of her body. There is 

 alfo a tendernefs and elegance in every otlier part of her 

 form ; her legs are neat and flender : the fmall of them is 

 finely rounded, and her feet are little, white and pretty : fo 

 that fhe pofteffes all thofe leffer beauties which the poets 

 have marked out in the female make ; the teretes furie (Hor. 

 hb. ii. od. iv. ver. 21.), and the pes candtdus (Id. lib. iv. 

 od. i. V. 27.), and exiguus (Ovid. Am. lib. ii. el. iii. ver. 7.) 

 And one may well fay of this ftatue, what one of the 

 perfons in Plautus's Epidicus (ad v. fc. i.) fays of a com- 

 plete beauty : 



" Ab unguiculo ad capillum fummura, eft feftivilfima." 



Though the Venus of Medici has not efcaped cenfure, 

 with regard to the fmallnefs of her head and hips, the large- 

 nefs of the nofe, the depth of the partition along the ver- 

 tebras of the back, the length of the fingers, which, except- 

 ing the little finger on the left-hand, are without joints ; 

 and though, in comparing the parts feparate, as the head, 

 nofe, &c. of this ftatue, with thofe of others, the fimilar 

 parts might be found even of fuperior workmanfhip ; yet 

 for fuch a combination of beauties, the delicacy of fhape 

 and attitude, and fymmetry of the whole, it is univerfally 

 allowed that the world doth not afford its equal. This in- 

 comparable ftatue ftands between two others, which in any 

 other place would be efteemed admirable pieces ; that on the 

 right of the Venus de Medici is twice as big, with tlie 

 golden apple in her hand, and is called Venus Vidrix ; the 

 other, by Hercules Ferrata, is diftinguifhed by the name of 

 Venus Urania. Spence's Polymetis, p. 6, &c. Keyfler's 

 Travels, vol. i. p. 434. 



Venus, in Heraldry, is ufed for the colour vert. 



Venus, in the Linnaean fyftem of Natural Hijlory, a 

 genus of the Teftacea order of worms. See CoNdHOLOGY 



Venus, Mount of. Mans Veneris, among Anatomijls, is a 

 little hairy protuberance in the middle of the pubes of wo- 

 men ; occafioned by the colleftion of fat under the flcin in 

 that place. 



Among chiromancers, the mount of Venus is a little emi- , 

 nence in the palm of the hand, at the root of one of the 

 fingers. 



Venus'^ Comh, in Botany. See Scanuix. 



Venus'j Fly-Trap. See DlONa;A. 



Venus'j Looking- Glafs. See Campanula and Specu- 

 lum Veneris. 



Venus'j Na-oel-Wort. See Cotyledon, n. 19, and Cy- 



NOGLOSSUM, n. 18. 



Venus, Cape, in Geography, a cape on the coaft of Ota- 

 heite. N. lat. 17° 29'. W. long. 149° 36'. 



VENUSIA, Venosa, in Ancient Geography, a town of 

 Italy, in Apulia, near mount Vultur, watered by a fmall 

 river called Aufidus. It is faid to have been denominated 

 Aphrodifia. It became a Roman colony in 460 U.C. It 

 was formerly a magnificent city, but its baths, theatres, 

 and temples have been deftroyed. It was the bu'th-place 

 of Horace. 



VENUSTI, Marcello, in Biography. This painter 

 was born at Mantua in 15 1 J, and was a pupil of Pierino 

 del Vaga. He is however far better known as the painter 

 of feveral defigns of Michael Angelo, (to which he gave a 

 colour unknown to that great compofer, ) than by any ori- 

 5 C 2 ginal 



