Casgliadau Arlein

A nude female figure is shown standing with her back to the spectator. Her body is turned slightly to the right as if she were looking in that direction, and the right with well developed musculature hangs at her side. A piece of drapery, perhaps from a garment thrown over the left shoulder or arm, trails down the left side of the figure. The folds of this garment continue around the edge of the slab. Few nude female subjects are portrayed in Roman art with their backs to the spectator, and the short list includes one of the Three Graces, Leda and occasionally Venus. She is unlikely to be one of the Graces, however, for although at least one would be shown from the back, they are always represented in close union, with their arms around the next, and this is certainly not the case here. Identification as Leda can also be discounted for she is always shown in a crouching position while sheltering the swan. Venus, however, is on occasions depicted in such a standing position while sheltering the swan. Venus, however, is on occasions depicted in such a standing position, in classical art - especially in a scene where she is accompanied by a goose - and this may be an appropriate identification here. If this figure is Venus, the relief may have formed part of an ornamented gravestone, for she was a popular funerary subject for women; in this case the figure would have occupied a panel to the left of a central inscription with another balancing panel to the right. The back of the slab has been dressed to leave a very flat surface. Probably 2nd or 3rd Century AD.