Soon after it was found this sculpture was identified as Psyche, meaning ‘soul’ in ancient Greek. It is now thought to represent Aphrodite and to take its inspiration, ultimately, from the Aphrodite of Knidos.
It dates from the first century BCE but is a Roman version of a Hellenistic original in the style of works attributed to the sculptor, Scopas
Number:
351
Material:
Marble
Location of Original:
Naples, National Museum 269
Size:
0.87m
Accession:
Purchased in 1884 from the Paris Beaux Arts
References:
Lippold: Griechische Plastik, 336 (n.8)
Ruesch: Guide to the National Museum, Naples, 85-6, fig.30
Walston: Catalogue of Casts in the Museum of Classical Archaeology (1889), 93, no.504 (?)
Reporter: 19 June 1885, 894, no.520
Date:
C1 BCE
Provenance:
Found in the amphitheatre in Capua in the eighteenth century
