Venerina from the collection of the Sheremetev Counts : a wax anatomical model as a synthesis of science and art.

Ostankino Manor is an architectural ensemble of the XVII-XVIII centuries, the country residence of the Counts Sheremetevs, one of the most noble and richest families in Russia from the XVII to the beginning of the XX century. The palace houses a theater stage with an auditorium and a suite of state rooms. They are decorated with collections of paintings, prints, decorative and applied arts. One of the most unusual exhibits in the Ostankino collection is a wax model of a female body of a Venus. It is a work of European masters, brought to Russia in the first half of the XVIII century for a personal collection.

At that time, Russia did not have its own production of wax anatomical models. Surprisingly, despite the great popularity of Venus in Europe, only one copy has been preserved in Russia - in the Ostankino estate. Venus is considered as a synthesis of science and art, thanks to which Nikolai Petrovich Sheremetev decidedto place her in the grand interior of the estate. The article identifies the differencesbetween the Ostankino model and other similar ones in natural science collections and defines why it has become a genuine work of art in the interior of the OstankinoPalace [Publisher's text].

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