HEAD OF VENUS White marble. Nose and chin missing. 19th-century plaster restoration on the right cheek. A small chip on a lock of hair above the right temple, with localised loss of patina. The piece retains its original collector’s patina. Mounted on a glossy black lacquered wooden plinth. H. 25 cm (excluding the plinth) Roman art, 1st–2nd century AD. Provenance Reported to have belonged to the collection of Professor George N. Olcott (1869–1912), with a 19th-century handwritten label affixed to the reverse of the base. Subsequently in a French private collection. Accompanied by a French ‘Passport’ (export certificate no. 231867). The goddess is depicted slightly smaller than life-size, with idealised, youthful features. The head is tilted to the left, supported by a long, slender neck. The oval face tapers towards the chin; the arched lips are slightly parted. The large, almond-shaped eyes, with pronounced inner canthi and thick eyelids, are surmounted by finely modelled eyebrows that blend harmoniously into the bridge of the nose. The forehead is low. The abundant, wavy hair is parted in the centre and swept back above the ears; a curly lock falls down one side. The hair is held back by a headband and tied in a bun at the nape of the neck. The tilt of the head, the slightly raised gaze and the styling of the hair bear close resemblance to the so-called Townley Venus, a Roman copy of a prototype from the late 4th century BC, attributed to the Praxiteles school. As the goddess of love and sensuality, Aphrodite is traditionally depicted as the embodiment of ideal beauty. This aesthetic perfection is reflected here in the harmony of the face, the grace of the neck and the supple modelling of the hair. This example can also be compared with a head of the goddess held at the Museo Civico in Aquileia, formerly in the Vicentini di Ronchi collection and dated to the Hadrianic period (M.V. Santa Maria Scrinari, “Museo archeologico di Aquileia. Catalogo delle sculture romane”, 1972, p. 48, no. 136, inv. 468).