Aphrodite (Venus of Taurida)

Aphrodite, the Goddess of Love and Beauty (the so-called Taurida Venus), a well-known piece, is a Greek copy of the Hellenistic statue modelled on the famous Aphrodite of Cnidus created by Praxiteles in the 2nd century B.C. Praxiteles was the first to show the goddess of love and beauty totally naked. Her clothes lying on the support explained why she was nude: the goddess was going to bathe. She covered her breast and lap with her hands as if protecting her chastity. The graceful Hermitage figure of Aphrodite has perfect forms and looks even more refined than the original, thanks to her deliberately elongated proportions. The State Hermitage Museum, St.Petersburg. Photo by Vladimir Terebenin.