Aphrodite of Knidos
FIGURE 1 FIGURE 2 FIGURE 3
PRAXITELES, Aphrodite of Knidos. Aphrodite (Venus dei Medici) Aphrodite of Rhodes Roman marble copy after an original of c. 350 BCE. copy of a Greek original of (Crouching Venus) Rhodes, Greece 1st the 2nd c. BCE century BCE. Roman Marble Copy)
Aphrodite of Knidos (Figure 1) was a revolutionary sculpture in terms of Grecian art, as it inspired many artists in the future to attempt to capture Aphrodite’s beauty and sexual ambiguity in the nude. Initially commissioned to be created by Praxiteles for a temple on the island of Kos, the sculpture was bought by Knidos. This was due to the fact that it had been severely rejected in Kos, caused by the exposed nature of the goddess. The sculpture itself, in the way Aphrodite was presented, began to symbolize different aspects of Aphrodite’s personality and divinity. Thus the sculpture by Praxiteles became the foundation for later female nudes and began to change the Grecian perspective of the nude female taboo. In the attempts to illustrate how Praxiteles’ Aphrodite of Knidos changed the nature of subsequent depictions of the goddess, further Roman replicas of Aphrodite statues will be compared to the Aphrodite of Knidos. These include Aphrodite (Venus dei Medici- Figure 2) and Aphrodite from Rhodes (Crouching Aphrodite) (Figure 3), in which parallels will be drawn to the Aphrodite at Knidos for stylistic similarities, portrayals of the goddess, and postures. According to several sources, Aphrodite of Knidos was the first and very revolutionary nude female statue. This statue was considered scandalous in Greece at the time because, “Before that, public taste had not readily accepted statues of a goddess undraped.” (Alexander 254) The reason that a female nude had never been created before this time was due to, “social mores of Greek society…” and the tradition in which, “Men had been naked in Greek sculpture for over
PRAXITELES, Aphrodite of Knidos. Aphrodite (Venus dei Medici) Aphrodite of Rhodes Roman marble copy after an original of c. 350 BCE. copy of a Greek original of (Crouching Venus) Rhodes, Greece 1st the 2nd c. BCE century BCE. Roman Marble Copy)
Aphrodite of Knidos (Figure 1) was a revolutionary sculpture in terms of Grecian art, as it inspired many artists in the future to attempt to capture Aphrodite’s beauty and sexual ambiguity in the nude. Initially commissioned to be created by Praxiteles for a temple on the island of Kos, the sculpture was bought by Knidos. This was due to the fact that it had been severely rejected in Kos, caused by the exposed nature of the goddess. The sculpture itself, in the way Aphrodite was presented, began to symbolize different aspects of Aphrodite’s personality and divinity. Thus the sculpture by Praxiteles became the foundation for later female nudes and began to change the Grecian perspective of the nude female taboo. In the attempts to illustrate how Praxiteles’ Aphrodite of Knidos changed the nature of subsequent depictions of the goddess, further Roman replicas of Aphrodite statues will be compared to the Aphrodite of Knidos. These include Aphrodite (Venus dei Medici- Figure 2) and Aphrodite from Rhodes (Crouching Aphrodite) (Figure 3), in which parallels will be drawn to the Aphrodite at Knidos for stylistic similarities, portrayals of the goddess, and postures. According to several sources, Aphrodite of Knidos was the first and very revolutionary nude female statue. This statue was considered scandalous in Greece at the time because, “Before that, public taste had not readily accepted statues of a goddess undraped.” (Alexander 254) The reason that a female nude had never been created before this time was due to, “social mores of Greek society…” and the tradition in which, “Men had been naked in Greek sculpture for over
Bibliography: Alexander, C. A Statue of Aphrodite. The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, 1953. Print. Grout, J. Aphrodite of Knidos, Encyclopedia Romana, 24, June, 2013. Web, Jul 2013. < http://penelope.uchicago.edu/~grout/encyclopaedia_romana/index.html> Michaelis, A. The Cnidian Aphrodite of Praxiteles. The Journal of Hellenic Studies, 8, 1887. Print. Scott, M. The Scandal of Praxiteles’ Aphrodite, BBC History Magazine, 1, November, 2010. Web Stewart, A. (2007). Praxiteles. American Journal of Archaeology, 2007. Print Figure 1