BUST OF APHRODITE: THE “HERA BORGHESE”
Classification
Dimensions
60 x 46 x 34 cm
Date
early 20th century
Period
Material
Iconography
Inventory
Ag.32
ID
Hyp-6447
References
The statue was earlier identified as Hera, but the way she is represented, and the provoking dress are not typical of the wife of Zeus. The thin chiton is slipping off her left shoulder — this is how Aphrodite is usually shown, at home in the sphere of love. The model for the Roman statue may have been a Greek work of art created in the fifth century BC. The plaster cast preserves only a part of the full-figure statue in Copenhagen, which was found at the villa of a rich and noble Roman family. The bronze-like paint of the cast evokes the material of the original Greek work.
