The god raises one arm to point heavenwards in a gesture borrowed from the repertory of classical rhetoric[a] that is characteristic of Giambologna's style.
In his Abduction of a Sabine Woman (1574–82),[c] a marble sculpture which is featured prominently in the Loggia dei Lanzi in Florence's Piazza della Signoria.
[4] Giambologna's several depictions of Venus established a canon of proportions for the female figure,[citation needed][original research?]
[citation needed] He created allegories strongly promoting Medicean political propaganda, such as Florence Triumphant over Pisa and, less overtly, Samson Slaying a Philistine, for Francesco de' Medici (1562).
It was given to the Duke of Lerma, then to Charles, Prince of Wales, at the time of negotiations for the Spanish Match; it was given by George III to Sir Thomas Worsley, at Hovingham Hall, Norfolk; it was purchased in 1953 for the Victoria and Albert Museum through the Art Fund.
[8] For the grotto of the Villa di Castello he sculpted a series of studies of individual animals, from life, which may now be viewed at the Bargello.