Aphrodite unveiling her face to Ares. She holds a pitcher in her right hand and is pouring its contents into a vessel in his hands. It is also to be noted that the action takes place above an empty altar. The child behind her in this connection can only represent her son Eros. In the National Museum at Rome there is an Attic sculpture of the fifth century which is somewhat bolder in showing the outlines of the figure. This Aphrodite is clad in a very diaphanous garment, the left breast being quite uncovered. [Illustration: APHRODITE AND ARES. Votive relief from _Monuments grecs_, Pl. I.] In the beautiful statue by Alcamenes, a copy of [Illustration: ATTIC SCULPTURE OF THE FIFTH CENTURY B. C. In the National Museum at Rome.] which is still preserved in the Louvre, the dress seems to be of slightly heavier texture and the posture more simple and dignified. In her left hand the goddess holds a pomegranate and is lifting with [Illustration: APHRODITE OF ALCAMENES, KNOWN AS VENUS GENETRIX.] her right hand a corner of her drapery above her right shoulder. [Illustration: HEAD OF THE CNIDIAN VENUS.] It was in the days of the highest development of [Illustration: THE CNIDIAN VENUS OF PRAXITELES. In the Vatican Museum at Rome.] Greek art that the greatest artists dared to show the goddess of love in perfect nudity. The statues of Phidias still retain the severe expression of her divine character, but Praxiteles endeavors to show her beauty as in primitive times without any dress, in a careless but graceful and artistic pose. So at least appears the most authoritative record of her appearance on the Cnidian coin. Other statues, especially the Vatican marble known as the Venus of Praxiteles, are partly dressed. It is assumed that many replicas of ancient masterpieces did not follow their originals in all details. [Illustration: THE VENUS OF PRAXITELES ON A CNIDIAN COIN. From Roscher, _Lex._, I, col. 416.] This statue of Praxiteles was ordered by the Cnidians from the artist for public worship, and when finished they placed it in the temple of Aphrodite Euploia built especially to serve as a shrine for [Illustration: HEAD OF THE CROUCHING VENUS.] this piece of art. The goddess was the patroness of the island of Cnidos and therefore her image was impressed upon the Cnidian coins as the great artist had depicted her. The best copies of the Cnidian [Illustration: VENUS CROUCHING IN THE BATH. In the Vatican.] Aphrodite are preserved in the Vatican and in the Glyptothek at Munich. [Illustration: VENUS WITH THE UNGUENT JAR. In the Vatican.] The Vatican is rich in Venus statues of a similar type which have been worked out in the spirit of Praxiteles, and we here reproduce photographs of what has been called the crouching Venus and also the Venus with the unguent jar.