The beautiful halls of the Villa Borghese Museum host not only the famous Bernini's statues (like this one), but also something more recent, which, at the same time, is able to generate surprise. Follow me, searching for beauty and perfection, in this trip that even a local tour guide like me desires to enjoy every single day.

I'm talking about the Paolina Bonaparte, a marble sculpture by Canova, the master of neo-classicism. Surely the last name Bonaparte will suggest something important, and that's because Pauline was the Napoleon's sister. Moreover this work of art is here because she got married with Camillo Borghese, an important member of the noble family which, since the XVII century, owned the Villa Borghese. The wedding took place in 1803, and the next year the couple, to commemorate the happy event, commissioned the work to the sculptor more popular at the moment. Canova, as well as other masters of his time, wanted to retrieve those canons, those styles, that beauty and that way of making art that characterized the greek-roman world and, after it, the Italian renaissance. For this reason he was also inspired by renaissance works of art such as the Sleeping Venus by Titian, in order to study the pose of his his sculpture basing it on the renaissance ideals which were similar to the ancient roman ones.

The mattress is in the marble, believe me, but it seems soft even just to look. But the whole sculpture is based on the lightness, that grace which, however, according to the chronicles, did not seem to be a peculiar characteristic of Paolina Bonaparte, who, for example, in her letters described her husband as "his most serenely idiocy". A lady famous for her frivolities, if it is true that she was always accompanied by 12 companion ladies, 4 squires, 6 chamberlains and other people entirely dedicated to serving and revering her (so much so that this company was ironically called the ministry of whims). Fortunately for us, here at the Villa Borghese Museum, we are left with this magnificent sculpture, with which Canova wanted to immortalize the extraordinary beauty of the young woman. She is depicted as a Venus: the apple that keeps it on the left hand is the fruit that evokes the myth in which Paride had to choose which deity she was the most beautiful between Venus, Minerva and Juno, the victory of the first over the other. Her head is resting gracefully on the right hand, with the elbow resting on the cushion of this agrippina, a typical sofa arm used already in ancient Greece. She is parlty lying on it, looking straight, proud and conscious of her beauty in front of her. The body is naked from the waist up, with small breasts in full view. The rest is covered by a robe light, which adheres perfectly to the sinuous lines of the body.

Imagine how Pauline, when he posed for Canova, was certainly at the height of her beauty, because she was 25 years old. And actually all men seemed to fall at her feet, entranced by her beauty. And, in a certain way, this  grace became, for a short period of time, the neglect of the Canova's sculpture, completed in 1808. When the work was made, immediately the word spread throughout Rome. Many rushed to the entrance of the villa, day after day, to admire the splendor of the new creation by Canova. However very few and selected guests were able to enter in contact and to admire the sculpture. But it seems that the servants decided to put in his pocket some money, allowing some people to come inside the villa at night in order to stay alone contemplating the masterpiece. When Camillo knew as the servants intended to take advantage of the effigy in marble to his beloved wife, he went on a rampage! He decided, therefore, to enclose the sculpture in a crate, so that no one could see her. A drastic decision of course, which perhaps gives justice to the stylistic perfection and realistic achieved by Canova in this extraordinary wonder.