CIRCA 1ST CENTURY A.D.

This beautiful half life-sized head is a version of the Venus Genetrix, also known as the Aphrodite Fréjus or the Louvre-Naples type, which took its name from the best preserved example in the Louvre, previously thought to have been found at Fréjus but now known to have come from the vicinity of Naples. Scholars have attempted to attribute the lost original to the sculptors Kallimachos or Aklamenes, and while the style certainly evokes the late 5th century B.C., such attributions have proven inconclusive. The identification of the type as Venus Genetrix is confirmed by inscriptions on Roman coins, although other Venus types also bear the same inscription. See A. Delivorrias, "Aphrodite," in LIMC, Vol. II, nos. 225-240 and M. True and A. Kozloff, A Passion for Antiquities, Ancient Art from the Collection of Barbara and Lawrence Fleischman, pp. 346-349.