Just to counteract all the testosterone in that piece of news, I would like to give some information on something entirely unrelated and very feminine: the Paulina sculpture, by Antonio Canova.

The image shows the "Paulina" sculpture by Canova, which is in the Borghese Gallery in Rome.

Paulina appears as Venus, the goddess of beauty & love, lounging romantically as she is posing for a great artist to capture her form. Her robes drape softly, resting on the plush chaise. Paulina Borghese was the most powerful woman of her time.

After the great artist Antonio Canova (1757-1822) sculpted the now famous statue of Napoleon in the late 1700's, Napoleon's sister, Countess Paulina Bonaparte Borghese (1780-1825) wished to be immortalized as well. In 1808 she commissioned a statue of her to be sculpted by Canova as a stylized goddess, and insisted on posing semi-nude. She holds in her left hand the "Victorious Apple", the prize awarded by the city of Paris to the most beautiful woman.

The result was a scandal, since it was considered inappropriate for royalty to pose in that manner. Legend has us understand that the embarrassed Count kept the sculpture locked away to be seen only by selected viewers. However, when the Count was away one could view the sculpture by bribing the servants.

(republished from a comment by Katy (wordenwk@tcd.ie)