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Museum of Classical Archaeology Databases

Fréjus Aphrodite

Also called the Venus Genetrix. Roman copy from a Greek bronze original.

The face has the grace and austerity of the style of Pheidias, the pose has the contrapposto stance of Polykleitos; at odds with these High Classical influences is the sensuous and revealing treatment of the drapery.

Although it is a restoration, the apple in Aphrodite’s left hand is the prize from Paris after he had judged her the most beautiful woman

Number: 
474
Material: 
Marble
Location of Original: 

Paris, Louvre 525

Size: 
1.64m
Accession: 

Purchased in 1884 from Brucciani of London

References: 

Lippold: Griechische Plastik, 168 (n.1)
Brunn-Bruckmann: Denkmäler Griechischer und Römischer Skulptur, 473
Walston: Catalogue of Casts in the Museum of Classical Archaeology (1889), 112, no.584-5
Reporter: 19 June 1885, 894, nos.512 & 513

Date: 
c.100 CE. Original: late C5 BCE
Provenance: 

Probably found in 1650 in the Roman town of Fréjus (Forum Julii) on the south coast of France

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