Venus
Unknown · Second or third century AD
Venus covers herself with a gesture that Greek and Roman sculptors repeated for centuries: one hand shields the breast, the other draws a mantle across her legs. Her hair is waved back in bands and tied high in a knot. The figure stands almost life size and looks complete, yet very little of it is ancient. Of the head only the hair survives, apart from the lower bun; of the body only the lower half from the belly down and the right forearm. Even these may come from different statues, assembled by a restorer who then carved the face, neck, bust, left arm and hand and the fold of drapery she holds.
The ancient pieces are Roman work of the second or third century, later variants of a modest Venus type descended from Praxiteles. Chips cover the drapery and right knee, and the lower body was rejoined at the knees from two pieces. The statue was bought in 1807 with the Borghese collection, and the Louvre displays it here as a lesson in how eighteenth-century taste built complete goddesses from fragments.
Did You Know? Only the hair, one forearm and the lower body are ancient; the restorer supplied the entire face and bust.
Unlock the Full Guide
Read every room and listen to every work in all museums with premium.