HUM 225 Week 2

The Capitoline Venus is a statue made of Parian marble. It was found in the 17^th century hidden in a house by San Vitale, and then in 1752, Benedict XIV bought the statue. The statue purchased by Benedict XIV was a Roman replica of a Hellenistic original. The original is believed to be sculpted for a temple on Cnidos by the great sculptor Prazitleles in 350 BC.

Rather than the history of this statue, I will discuss the formal aspects of it. As mentioned earlier, the median of the statue is Parian marble. I think that line is used in her arms and legs, the way the are placed, to portray her discomfort. Even though her arms and legs do show discomfort, the spacing of them demonstrates that maybe she was not uneasy. It is said that the goddess was taken by surprise when getting ready for a bath and is trying to cover her nudity. While she is, I think that the spacing shows that she might not have been trying that hard to cover herself, or else she probably would have seemed more crunched together and uneasy.