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| Venus de' Medici Hellenistic marble copy of an earlier bronze original displayed in the Tribuna of the Uffizi Gallery, Florence |
"At some time in the late sixteenth or early seventeenth century the Medici had acquired a Venus and taken it to the family villa on the Pincio [in Rome]. It is astonishing that we should know so little about the circumstances of its discovery, because before very long it was to rival, almost to eclipse, the fame of the Apollo Belvedere and the Laocoön : it was indeed the last statue to be granted a place in this particularly hallowed sanctuary of the musée imaginaire."
"In 1638 Francois Perrier devoted three illustrations to the Venus de' Medici, and six years later Evelyn found that 'certainly nothing in Sculpture ever approached this miracle of art'. Yet it seems not to have been among the replicas which Velázquez obtained for the King of Spain. There were strong doubts about the morality of this Venus, and it required the sophistry of much later writers to discover her deep spirituality. We are told that her more obvious attractions caused particular embarrassment during the pontificate of the austere Innocent XI (1676-89) and that it was for that reason that in 1677 he gave permission for her removal to Florence where (the equally bigoted) Cosimo III surprisingly gave her a place of honor in his gallery."
– Francis Haskell and Nicholas Penny, Taste and the Antique (Yale University Press, 1981)
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| Pietro Cipriani Venus de' Medici ca. 1722-24 copy - as bronze statuette Getty Museum, Los Angeles |
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| Fratelli Alinari Venus de' Medici ca. 1856-72 albumen silver print Getty Museum, Los Angeles |
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| Underwood and Underwood, Publishers Venus de' Medici ca. 1900 stereograph Getty Museum, Los Angeles |
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| Jan de Bisschop Venus de' Medici ca. 1665 etching Victoria & Albert Museum |
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| Jan de Bisschop Venus de 'Medicica. 1672-89 etching British Museum |
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| Jan de Bisschop Venus de' Medici ca. 1669-71 etching British Museum |
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| Jan de Bisschop Eight studies of the head of the Venus de' Medici mid-17th century drawing Rijksmuseum |
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| Augustinus Terwesten Venus de' Medici aa a bust late 17th century etching Rijksmuseum |
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| formerly attributed to Wenceslaus Hollar Studies derived from the Venus de' Medici 1760 etching Royal Collection, Great Britain |
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| Jean Norest Venus de' Medici 1855 copy - ivory statuette Victoria & Albert Museum |
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| M. Geiss, Berlin Venus de' Medici 1850s full-size copy in zinc Osborne House, Isle of Wight |
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| Filippo della Valle Venus de 'Medici (back) late 17th century copy - bronze statuette Royal Collection, Great Britain |
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| Filippo della Valle Venus de' Medici (detail) late 17th century copy - bronze statuette Royal Collection, Great Britain |
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| Hubert Le Sueur Venus de' Medici 1636-37 full-size copy in bronze commissioned by Charles I Royal Collection, Great Britain |
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| Anonymous sculptor Venus de' Medici ca. 1700 another full-size copy Royal Collection, Great Britain |
This once-admired statue has also been known as Grecian Venus, Marine Venus, and Venus Pontia.