Venus Victrix was made in the last few years of Renoir´s life. His health was extremely reduced due to arthritis. From photographs we can see that his hands were deformed, and he was no longer able to model himself, however, he continued painting with his brush tied to his arm. He took on the sculptor Richard Guino as his assistant.

Venus Victrix is a motif taken from Greek mythology, from the story of The Judgement of Paris. The story is as follows: In honour of the marriage between Peleus and Thetis, Zeus arranged a banquet at Mount Olympus. Every god and demigod were invited, except Eris, the goddess of conflict. As revenge, Eris threw the apple of discord in amongst the partygoers. The apple had an inscription; kallisti - “to the most beautiful”. The three graces, Hera, Athene and Aphrodite (in Roman tradition; Juno, Minerva and Venus) all claimed the apple as their own. They started arguing and asked Zeus to choose between them. He couldn’t, or dared not, decide and thought that a mortal man should make the decision instead. And so it was that Paris was appointed judge by Zeus, and the three goddesses immediately went off to bribe him. Hera offered him political power, riches and control of Asia; Athene offered him prowess as a warrior; while Aphrodite offered him Helena, the most beautiful woman in the world. Paris chose Aphrodite, and the sculpture shows the exact moment of her victory, when the goddess of love has defeated her competitors. She stands there haughty and proud, unabashedly unclad to show that her victory was well deserved. In her hand she holds the golden apple that Paris gave her as a prize. Paris was no ordinary mortal. He was the son of the king of Troy and when he kidnapped the beautiful Helena as promised by Aphrodite, it triggered the Trojan war.

Venus Victrix has many classical prototypes, one being Venus de Milo. The figure stands in a contrapposto position, which shifts the weight and gives the body a twist that makes it less static and more alive. She mirrors the voluptuous women from Renoir’s paintings, and in contrast to the classical prototypes she has a more modern and sensual expression.