The goddess of love is undoing her sandal with her left foot supported by the now-damaged wings of a small Cupid. Venus (the Greek Aphrodite) holds an apple in her left hand—the prize for winning the beauty contest in which Paris chooses her over her rival Greek goddesses, Athena and Hera. The apple rests on a statuette of a female figure dressed in a garment rendered in a style that recalls the archaic period in Greece. It is not clear whom this archaic-looking figure represents. She may be the goddess herself, portrayed as an ancient statue in a sanctuary dedicated to her.
