Torso of Aphrodite

Born of sea foam, Aphrodite, goddess of love and beauty, is also closely connected to navigation and seafaring. This torso is one of about twenty extant copies of a statue type currently known as Aphrodite Pontia-Euploia (Guardian of Sea Voyages), although it is not certain that the type was originally connected to the sea. Of Greek goddesses, only nymphs or Aphrodite are typically shown either partially or fully nude. This type is distinguished by the placement of the mantle, which emphasizes the sensuous S-curve of her body and hips; the garment would also have covered the now-lost head. The stance was characteristic of the work of the fourth-century BCE sculptor Praxiteles, who created the Knidian Aphrodite, the first full-scale female nude statue. The size of this torso suggests that the statue might have decorated a civic water fountain. Auguste Rodin, sculptor of the Walking Man statue in this colonnade, owned and displayed a torso of this Aphrodite type.