TAMPA, Fla. — A marble head — disembodied and ancient — that once was attached to the wrong ancient torso, is displayed just a few feet from its former faux body.

The torso, discovered outside Rome in 1771, is a life-sized marble Aphrodite from the First Century A.D.

Shortly after her discovery, Aphrodite got the mismatched ancient head and brand new limbs.

By the time she arrived in Tampa, her new limbs had disappeared, and her head became its own artifact.

The Aphrodite torso is just one of many artifacts at the Tampa Museum of Art’s Classic Antiquities Collection, and it’s now part of their new series: “Conversations with the Collection.”

The concept here is simple. Contemporary artists are invited to interpret ancient works.

The first artist in the "conversation" is Brooklyn-based Patty Cronin. Her work, inspired by the many lives of the museum's Aphrodite statue, is titled “Patricia Cronin, Aphrodite, and the Lure of Antiquity.”

Cronin reinterpreted the Aphrodite torso by making it larger than life and whole.

"And she created the heads and the arms and the legs out of a different material, so that it's quite clear what's old and what's new," explained Curator Seth Pevnick.

While the new Cronin torso resembles the marble original, its new parts are made of a type of frosted glass material, and the artist didn't stop there.

She created eight layered paintings based on Aphrodite statues from around the world, including the Tampa torso.

Also on display are Cronin’s earlier works inspired by her love of the ancient world.

The exhibition will be up through January 6.

The museum hopes to keep "Aphrodite Reimagined" as part of their permanent collection.