The Statue Titled Torso of Venus

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The statue titled, Torso of Venus, was a replica of the original work by Praxiteles. The Romans made the sculpture in 1st or 2nd century AD during the time of the Late Antiquity period; more specifically known as the Pre-Constantine period. Like the original, the statue was made out of marble. The Torso of Venus is a statue of the goddess Venus, known commonly as the goddess of love and beauty. It was said that she was born, or emerged, from the sea foam. Venus, or Aphrodite to the Greeks, was the embodiment of beauty, sexuality, love and fertility. I believe the Torso of Venus was the Roman version of “Aphrodite of Knidos”, which was one of the most famous works of the ancient Greek sculptor Praxiteles of Athens in the 4th century BC.
The voluptuous goddess is sculpted nude and you can see her torso is slightly angled forward, creating creases across her waist and above her navel. The way that the abdomen is defined suggests that she was likely standing with her weight on one leg, likely her left leg, while her right leg was probably slightly bent and sticking out in front of the left. I am not certain if the legs were not made or have fallen off and only the torso remains, but I believe they have probably fallen off or were dismantled, along with the arms and the head. Overall her body is a spiral composition. She has a slight turn of the body from the hips to the shoulders, combined with the outward thrust of the right hip, resulting in a fascinating S-shaped pose. The torso is carved with careful naturalism, with an effort to achieve ideal proportions and harmony of line. However, for there is no exaggeration or unbalanced emphasis, and the figure 's essential dignity is evident. The artist has made human beauty sublimated b...

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Works Cited

Encyclopedia Mythica. "Venus." Encyclopedia Mythica: mythology, folklore, and religion. N.p., 3 Mar. 1997. Web. 12 Apr. 2014. .
Gill, N S. "Who Is the Roman Goddess Venus?" About.com Ancient / Classical History. About.com, n.d. Web. 15 Apr. 2014. .
Goddess Gift. "The Goddess Venus, Goddess of Romance and Beauty (Aphrodite)." N.p., Web. 12 Apr. 2014. .
Rayment, Kate. "Aphrodite: Venus: Goddess of Love and Beauty." InDepthInfo: Information Delivered In-Depth. InDepthInfo, n.d. Web. 15 Apr. 2014. .
Stokstad, M., & Cothren, M. W. (2008). Art history: Volume 1 (4th ed.). Upper Saddle River, N.J: Pearson Prentice Hall. Print.

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