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Lot Essay
Venus is shown with a calm gaze, looking straight ahead with no twist of the neck muscles. Her oval face is smoothly carved, with a prominent nose ridge and brows, her eyelids delicately raised, and small, slightly pursed lips. Her hair is unusually carved - centrally parted and brought down the sides of the head in light waves, the front tresses are drawn back around her head and then tied into a chignon. Four short ringlets fall at the nape of her neck, but she also has long wavy tresses falling low onto each shoulder. The lower section of the bust has been re-cut in later times, perhaps from a complete statue or from a larger bust. The marble used is white of compact grain with delicate light grey striations, likely marmor lunense.
In a letter of expertise accompanying the lot, Prof. Dr Dietrich Willers, professor emeritus of Classical Archaeology at the University of Bern, suggests that this exceptionally well-preserved head is a variant of the Aspremont-Lynden/Arles Type of Aphrodite - known from four copies: one in Arles Museum; another in Vienna; another once in Broadlands and now in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; and another in Athens. Cf. A. Delivorrias, 'Aphrodite', LIMC, II, p. 39. The lost original dates back to the 2nd quarter of the 4th century B.C. and probably came from an Athenian workshop. However the sculptor of the above example made some stylistic changes based on later types of Aphrodite, such as the shoulder curls of the Marina type (LIMC, no. 554), yet the diadem has been omitted and the hair has a looser structure instead of precise, individual curls. The face is a little narrower than the example in Athens, but its proportions are similar to the Vienna head. The example in Arles shows the head looking straight ahead but tilted ever so slightly to the left, but slight position changes like this are the whim of the sculptor and can change in every variation of a statue type.
Venus, the Roman goddess of love, beauty, and fertility, was one of the most popular subjects in Roman sculpture and visual art. Adapted from the Greek goddess Aphrodite, she embodied both divine allure and idealized femininity. Roman artists frequently depicted Venus in marble, bronze, and frescoes, often in sensual or graceful poses, such as the iconic Venus Anadyomene (rising from the sea) or the Venus Pudica (modest Venus), inspired by earlier Greek originals like Praxiteles’ Aphrodite of Knidos. Her widespread appeal extended beyond temples to private homes, gardens, and public baths, reflecting both religious reverence and aesthetic admiration. Wealthy Romans commissioned sculptures of Venus for decorative and symbolic purposes, associating her image with love, fertility, and cultural sophistication.
In a letter of expertise accompanying the lot, Prof. Dr Dietrich Willers, professor emeritus of Classical Archaeology at the University of Bern, suggests that this exceptionally well-preserved head is a variant of the Aspremont-Lynden/Arles Type of Aphrodite - known from four copies: one in Arles Museum; another in Vienna; another once in Broadlands and now in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; and another in Athens. Cf. A. Delivorrias, 'Aphrodite', LIMC, II, p. 39. The lost original dates back to the 2nd quarter of the 4th century B.C. and probably came from an Athenian workshop. However the sculptor of the above example made some stylistic changes based on later types of Aphrodite, such as the shoulder curls of the Marina type (LIMC, no. 554), yet the diadem has been omitted and the hair has a looser structure instead of precise, individual curls. The face is a little narrower than the example in Athens, but its proportions are similar to the Vienna head. The example in Arles shows the head looking straight ahead but tilted ever so slightly to the left, but slight position changes like this are the whim of the sculptor and can change in every variation of a statue type.
Venus, the Roman goddess of love, beauty, and fertility, was one of the most popular subjects in Roman sculpture and visual art. Adapted from the Greek goddess Aphrodite, she embodied both divine allure and idealized femininity. Roman artists frequently depicted Venus in marble, bronze, and frescoes, often in sensual or graceful poses, such as the iconic Venus Anadyomene (rising from the sea) or the Venus Pudica (modest Venus), inspired by earlier Greek originals like Praxiteles’ Aphrodite of Knidos. Her widespread appeal extended beyond temples to private homes, gardens, and public baths, reflecting both religious reverence and aesthetic admiration. Wealthy Romans commissioned sculptures of Venus for decorative and symbolic purposes, associating her image with love, fertility, and cultural sophistication.