The namesake statue for this archetype is made of
marble has been dated to the 2nd century AD. It was excavated (alongside many other statues) from a large
Roman villa near Monte Calvo in 1824–26. The villa belonged
C. Brutius Presens who was a prominent figure during the reign of emperors Trajan and Hadrian. Afterwards the statue was taken to Rome and exhibited at the Villa Borghese. Inherited by a succession of Borgheses until the latter part of the 19th century it had been removed from public view and stored in the basement of the
Villa Borghese for many years. The Borgheses having some financial difficulties were interested in selling some of their works of art and in 1891 it was acquired by
Wolfgang Helbig for the
Carlsberg Glyptotek. Since the purchase of the Hera Borghese was subject to some discretion, codenames were employed,in the case of the Hera it was called "Jeanette". Different attributions of who the artist behind the original design that served as basis for the Roman sculptor who made the Hera Borghese ranges from
Alkamenes to
Polykleitos. In 1976 restorations were undertaken and older restorations done on the statue were undone. It has been suggested that instead of representing the goddess Hera/
Juno it instead depicts
Aphrodite or
Venus- and could be a copy of Aphrodite Euploia by Polykleitos. could also be compared with
Venus Genetrix further strengthening the claim. ==References==