A ROMAN MARBLE TORSO OF VENUS

Based on the Aphrodite Anadyomene, the goddess depicted nude, bending to her left with the shoulders sloped down compressing her waist, her right arm originally raised, the left lowered, remnants of her long hair preserved on her right shoulder. The Aphrodite Anadyomene is an early Hellenistic creation with many later copies and variations. The goddess is not "rising from the sea" as the epithet implies, but rather she is arranging her hair, holding thick tresses in each hand before tying them together in a chignon.