The Venus Callipyge, also known as the Aphrodite Kallipygos (Greek: Ἀφροδίτη Καλλίπυγος) or the Call
The Venus Callipyge, also known as the Aphrodite Kallipygos (Greek: Ἀφροδίτη Καλλίπυγος) or the Callipygian Venus, all literally meaning “Venus (or Aphrodite) of the beautiful buttocks”, is an Ancient Roman marble statue, thought to be a copy of an older Greek original. In an example of anasyrma, it depicts a partially draped woman, raising her light peplos to uncover her hips and buttocks, and looking back and down over her shoulder, perhaps to evaluate them. The subject is conventionally identified as Venus (Aphrodite), though it may equally be a portrait of a mortal woman.[…]Many viewers of the 17th and 18th centuries identified the subject as the goddess, and supposed the work to be a cult statue to Venus Kallipygos. It was thus often described at the time as Venus exiting the bath. Others, however, identified it instead with one of the “beautiful-buttocked” girls from Athenaeus’ story, and as such it was alternatively known as “La Belle Victorieuse” or “La Bergère Grecque”.In 1836, Famin called it a “charming statuette"but noted that it was: ”…placed in a reserved hall, where the curious are only introduced under the surveillance of a guardian, though even this precaution has not prevented the rounded forms which won for the goddess the name of Callipyge, from being covered with a dark tint, which betrays the profane kisses that fanatic admirers have every day impressed there. We ourselves knew a young German tourist smitten with a mad passion for this voluptuous marble; and the commiseration his state of mind inspired set aside all idea of ridicule.“ -- source link
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