Woman Bathing

Artist Workshop of Giambologna (Netherlandish, 1529 - 1608)

Formerly attributed to Giovanni da Bologna (Italian, 1529 - 1608)

Dateca. 1565

MediumBronze

DimensionsOverall: 17 × 3 1/2 × 3 1/2 inches (43.18 × 8.89 × 8.89 cm)

Credit LinePurchase: William Rockhill Nelson Trust

Object number31-54

On View

On view

Gallery Location

Collections

European Art

Terms

DescriptionFull length nude female figure.Exhibition History

Exhibition History

The Bachstitz Collection of Renaissance Bronzes: Exhibition of An Important Collection of Renaissance Bronzes, P. Jackson Higgs, New York, 1923, no. 30, as by Giovanni da Bologna, Venus After Her Bath.

England's World of 1607, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, May 17-September 1, 1957, no cat.

Anatomy and Art, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, May 8-June 5, 1960, no. 107, as by Giovanni da Bologna, Venus After the Bath.

The Gods of High Olympus and a Hero, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, February 15-March 20, 1983, no. 21, as by Workshop of Giovanni da Bologna, Venus after the Bath.

Gallery Label

Giambologna, whose Mercury is exhibited nearby, was born in Flanders but became the most celebrated Italian sculptor of his day. The slight bend and twist of this bathing woman's body are typical of the so-called serpentine figure popular in Italy during the Mannerist period, encouraging the spectator's eye to follow the curvature of the figure's limbs.

Provenance

Carl von Hollitscher (1845-1925), Berlin;

With Bachstitz Gallery, The Hague, Netherlands and New York, stock nos. Ru 53 and P 16, as Venus after her Bath, by 1923-1931 [1];

Purchased from Bachstitz Gallery, through Harold Woodbury Parsons, by The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1931.

NOTES:

[1] Metropolitan Museum of Art Archives, New York, Bachstitz Gallery Records, box 19, folder 3, copies in NAMA curatorial files.

Published References

Possibly Otto von Falke, La Galerie Bachstitz, vol. 3, Objects of art and paintings (Berlin: Frisch, 1921), (repro.).

Frank E. Washburn Freund, The Bachstitz Collection of Renaissance Bronzes: Exhibition of An Important Collection of Renaissance Bronzes, exh. cat. (New York: P. Jackson Higgs, 1923), unpaginated, (repro.), as by Giovanni da Bologna, Venus After Her Bath.

“Famous Venus in Bronze,” International Studio 79, no. 324 (May 1924): 92.

The William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, Handbook of the William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art (Kansas City, MO: William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, 1933), 70, 74, (repro.), as by Giovanni Bologna, Venus After the Bath.

“Anatomy & Art,” Bulletin (The Nelson Gallery and Atkins Museum), exh. cat., 3, no. 1 (Summer 1960): 31, as by Giovanni da Bologna, Venus After the Bath..

William D. Wixom, Renaissance Bronzes From Ohio Collections, exh. cat. (Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1975), unpaginated.

Olivier Phillips, The Gods of High Olympus and a Hero, exh. cat. (Kansas City, MO: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 1983), 3, 10, 19, (repro.), as Venus after the Bath.

Information about a particular artwork or image, including provenance information, is based upon historic information and may not be currently accurate or complete. Research on artwork and images is an ongoing process, and the information about a particular artwork or image may not reflect the most current information available to the Museum. If you notice a mistake or have additional information about a particular artwork or image, please e-mail provenance@nelson-atkins.org.