ITALIAN, 20TH CENTURY, AFTER THE ANTIQUE

In 1913, Italian soldiers deployed at Cyrene, Libya, found a headless marble sculpture from the second century AD, commonly known today as the “Venus of Cyrene”. In 1915, the Roman copy of a Greek original was shipped to Italy, where it was placed on display in the Museo Nazionale delle Terme of Rome. The Venus was returned to Libya in August 2008, following lengthy negotiations and two court decisions.