Shaftsbury man wins Webby Award for his recreation of ‘Venus Italica’

BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) – A Vermonter was honored Monday night at the Webby Awards for mastering 200-year-old sculpting techniques.

The Webbys are the leading international award honoring excellence on the internet.

In a video produced by the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., Fred X. Brownstein of Shaftsbury recreates the famous Venus Italica sculpture, originally made by Antonio Canova in 1812, using the same sculpting techniques the famous sculptor did.

Brownstein learned these techniques – which involved clay, a plaster mold, and eventually marble – over the course of several years. He completed the recreation in four months on his own, something even Canova could not do.