Venus and the sphinx

myminifactory

Préault's sculpture, characteristic of French Romanticism, was repeatedly rejected by Paris Salons from the 1830s through the 1840s; it wasn't until after the Revolution of 1848 that he gained official recognition. This plaster model is a working version for his commission in 1867 to create a piece for the imperial palace at Fontainbleau, depicting Venus, the Roman goddess of love and beauty, sitting atop a sphinx - a legendary creature with the body of a lioness and the face of a woman.