Inv. Scu 409

The slightly larger-than-life statue depicts the goddess immediately before taking a bath.

It is a late Hellenistic (2nd or 1st century BC) remaking of the famous and beloved statue of Aphrodite made by Praxiteles around 360 BC and as such it can be dated to this period.

The work by Praxiteles was made for the sanctuary of the goddess at Cnidus in Asia Minor, hence the name Aphrodite of Cnidus.
Our copy may be one of the first and more faithful copies; it defined the so-called “Capitoline type”.

The sculpture was found around 1667-1670 on the Esquiline Hill, near the basilica of San Vitale. It was acquired and donated to the Capitoline collections by pope Benedetto XIV in 1752.

The room where the statue is still placed was purposely created in the 1820s.