Torso of Artemis with Head of Aphrodite

The short dress (chiton) and remnants of a quiver on her back identify the woman as Artemis, goddess of the hunt. The head, although also ancient, once belonged to a statue of Aphrodite. It is not known when these two pieces were joined, but it was common practice in the 18th and 19th centuries to combine ancient fragments or re-create missing parts of statues to make them more aesthetically pleasing. The head of Aphrodite is of the Capitoline type.

Provenance

Provenance (from the French provenir, 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody, or location of a historical object.

Palazzo Lante, Rome, by 1778 [mode of acquisition unknown]; Comte James Alexandre de Pourtales-Gorgier, Paris, by 1841, [mode of acquisition unknown]; Sale, Catalogue des objets d'art qui composent les Collections de feu M. le Compte de Pourtales-Gorgier, Paris, 6 Feb 1865, p. 16, lot 56; Henri Daguerre, Paris, by 1921, [mode of acquisition unknown]; Joseph Brummer, Paris, 1921, by purchase, [Brummer inv. no. P220]; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1922, by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.