The illustration of a larger-than-life limestone-and-marble statue on the Web site of the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles is captioned, "Who is this colossal goddess?" The question asked in a Rome courtroom yesterday was, "Where does she come from?" The fifth-century-B.C. statue, believed to be of Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love, may be the most important ancient artifact at the core of the trial of Marion True, the Getty's former curator of antiquities, who is accused of acquiring objects illegally excavated from Italian soil. The Getty bought the statue in 1988 for a reported $18 million from the London-based dealer Robin Symes. Salvatore Morando, an investigator testifying at yesterday's hearing, asserted that it came from an illegal excavation at Morgantina in central Sicily. Mr. Morando said tests on the statue and on fragments found at Morgantina indicated that "they came from the same archaeological site." Italian officials have asked for more tests, but Maurizio Fiorilli, a lawyer for the state, charged in court that the Getty Museum was uncooperative. Lawyers for Mrs. True countered that many experts, including Malcolm Bell, a director of the excavations at the Sicilian site, say that no proof of the statue's origins is known. Italian officials have contended since 1988 that it was illegally taken from Sicily.