Esquiline Venus

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The "Esquiline Venus" is a slightly smaller-than-life-size nude marble sculpture of a female wearing sandals and a headdress; its name "Esquiline" comes from the site where it was discovered, Esquiline Hill in Rome, probably part of the same site as the Horti Lamiani where the Discobolus and Laocoon and his Sons had been found previously. In style, the Esquiline Venus is an example of the Pasitelean "eclectic" Neo-Attic school, combining elements from a variety of other previous schools - a Praxitelean idea of the nude female form; a face, muscular torso, and small high breasts in the fifth-century BC severe style; and pressed-together thighs typical of Hellenistic sculptures. Its arms must have broken off when the statue fell after the imperial park where it stood fell into neglect after antiquity. They have been frequently restored in paintings, but never in reality. The statue's subject has been interpreted various times; the most common depiction is that of Venus in the form of "Anadyomene" (Rising from the sea), one of the iconic representations of the goddess during her birth from the water. Another common depiction is the female version of the Diadumenos of Polyclitus, tying up the hair with a fillet. Aphrodite found on Esquiline in Rome, Roman first century BC., copy, Rome, Palazzo dei Conservatori inv. 1141.