In the original Greek myth of Pygmalion and the statue, the sculptor creates a figure of perfect female beauty. So beautiful is she that he finds her more desirable than any real woman could be, and in answer to his prayer, the sculpture is brought to life by Aphrodite, goddess of Love. Pygmalion, a popular subject for Victorian painters, became a symbol of male desire as the animating and shaping force for women's sexuality. In this picture we are presented with the woman as object, passive, without will, her sexual feelings not autonomous but entirely a response to his desire. He has quite literally put her on a pedestal - a metaphor for an idealizing love - and he embraces her in an attitude of worship. She represents the pure ideal of Victorian womanhood; though naked she is demure and modest, her slow coming-to-life, her sexual awakening indicated by the blushing pink of her face and shoulders, whilst her body remains a chaste marble white.