Roman Marble Nude Torso of Venus

Ancient goddess of love, Venus appears before us, a beautiful marble statuette created by a skilled Roman artist. One of the twelve Olympians, Venus (known to the Greeks as Aphrodite) was one of the most celebrated deities of the ancients, known as the goddess of beauty, mother of love, queen of laughter, mistress of the graces and of pleasures, patroness of courtesans. Just under life-size, this slightly tilted upper body of a most sensual Venus is smoothly worked from a marble with large crystals. The sculptor was probably influenced by the Knidian Aphrodite by Praxiteles. Our imaginations are tantalized by this gorgeous fragment. What did the completed sculpture look like? Was she humbly covering herself with her now missing arms? Was she beckoning us towards her? We can imagine this fragment once standing as the centerpiece of a temple dedicated to Venus. Faithful followers from around the Mediterranean world might have once flocked to see this sculpture, in order to offer libations to Venus that she might bestow love upon them.

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