Venustorso

Description

A very special “Bavarian discovery” presents the so-called Epfach Venus. She was acquired in 1858 by the Historischer Verein von und für Oberbayern (Historical Association of and for Upper Bavaria) together with other marble sculptures with a provenance from Epfach. While the Venus torso does not provide any clues for a post-antique date of creation, the other pieces must have been produced in modern times. On the basis of its posture, the female torso may be compared to numerous statues of the Venus Medici type. This depiction, which shows Venus, the Goddess of Love, being surprised while taking a bath, is inspired by one of the most famous statues of classical Greece: the Aphrodite or Venus of Cnidus (Datça, Prov. Muğla, Turkey).

The creator of this Cnidia in ca. 340 BC was the Greek sculptor Praxiteles (ca. 390–320 BC), who in this case depicted for the first time a life-size woman in the nude. Shortly after being displayed in a temple at Cnidus, she became a tourist attraction of Greek antiquity. Therefore, many copies and variants of the famous model were created. Due to its excellent quality, the small-size Roman copy at the Archäologische Staatssammlung (Archaeological State Collection) may have been created in an Italic workshop. She may once have been part of the decoration of a Roman villa. She is so different to the remaining marble discoveries from Roman Epfach, that the place of discovery must be sought elsewhere