Prince Felix Youssoupov was the son of the fabulously wealthy Princess Zenaide Youssoupova and was infamous for his role in the assassination of Grigori Rasputin. The Youssoupovs at the time of Felix's birth in 1887 had accumulated a fortune that was beyond comprehension, possessing such vast amounts of property that even they themselves were unsure of their own worth. Among the Youssoupov's many residences were a sumptuous palace on the banks of the Moika river in St. Petersburg and an Empire-style chateau at Arkhangelskoe on the outskirts of Moscow, both of which served as settings for the immense and spectacular family collection of paintings and objets d'art, as well as store houses for their jewels. Princess Zenaide's own personal jewelry collection was considered second only to those in the imperial vaults, possessing a number of historically significant and priceless jewels, such as the Polar Star diamond, the famous La Régente Pearl and the extraordinary La Pelegrina Pearl.

During the unrest of 1917, many of these jewels and objets were hidden by Felix in both the Moika Palace and the Moscow house, only to be later discovered by the Bolsheviks. An impressive number, however, were safely taken out of the country by Felix when he fled to Paris and were eventually sold to various jewelers in order to sustain his new life in exile. Though the pieces represented only a fraction of the vast Youssoupov collection, they would have been considered, by any standard, a trove of riches. Among these objects was Lot 72, a 4-inch-tall sapphire statuette of the goddess Venus perched atop a large spinel intaglio with a depiction of Medusa on its underside. One version of the figurine's history suggests that Catherine the Great gave the piece to her alleged lover, Prince Nikolai Youssoupov (Felix's great-great-grandfather). However, no official records exist to confirm how the sculpture, eventually dubbed the Blue Venus, came into the Youssoupov family's collection.