The William Henry Fox Talbot Catalogue Raisonné

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Object within Schaaf no. 212

Bust of Venus

Object details

Alternate titles

Bust of Susanna, after Francois du Quesnoy

Created: Between 1 Aug 1835 and 30 Apr 1846

Image size: h 10.0cm x w 7.5cm

Object Type: Paper Negative-Camera

Physical description: waxed; the negative has been trimmed

Provenance:
Matilda Talbot 1934

Owner: National Science and Media Museum

Object owner number: 1937-2714

Collection: Science Museum Collection

This object is part of Schaaf no. 212

Bust of Venus

Keywords: Sculpture

On a circular table top, one of the objects most photographed by Talbot, this statuette seems always to have been known as the “Bust of Venus” by the Talbot family. It was often referred to as such in inscriptions made by the likes of Lady Elisabeth Feilding. It is in fact a “Bust of Susanna”, reduced from the original full-figure marble statue by the Baroque sculptor, François du Quesnoy (1597-1643). The original is in the church of Santa Maria di Loreto, in Rome.