TitleVenus
Artist
Karl Theodore Francis Bitter
(American, 1867 - 1915)
Daten.d.
MediumBronze
DimensionsOverall: 23 3/4 × 6 × 4 in.
SubmissionNA diploma presentation, May 2, 1904
Credit LineNational Academy of Design, New York, NY
Object number12-S
Label TextBetween 1893 and 1895, Bitter carried out a number of sculptural programs for Biltmore, the estate of George Washington Vanderbilt near Asheville, North Carolina. These included several figures for the exterior of the house and two large friezes, one in marble for the Banquet Hall and one in oak for the Organ Gallery. The Academy's Venus is a replica of the crowning figure of one of two andirons designed for the library fireplace. The pendant is a nude figure of Vulcan. The original pieces, cast in iron and polished steel, stand atop elaborate bases festooned with dolphins, cornucopias, shells and two attending nudes, males for the Vulcan and females for the Venus. Dennis believes that the works were derived from designs for early baroque Venetian andirons. Whatever their origins and despite their elaboration, the andirons at Biltmore are almost lost in the profusion of decoration that surrounds them in the carved wood and marble of the huge fireplace. Nevertheless, they were noticed by a critic for The Sketch Book who, writing in 1906, thought the works to be beautiful. His article was accompanied by an illustration of the Venus.Bitter exhibited the original plasters for the andirons at the National Sculpture Society Third Exhibition, New York, 1898.
