Aphrodite^2

Aphrodite, goddess of love, has been portrayed countless times throughout history, but today we focus on the late Ancient Greece period with Aphrodite of Knidos and Aphrodite of Melos.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/48/Cnidus_Aphrodite_Altemps_Inv8619_n3.jpg

Praxiteles, a famous Greek sculptor, created this free-standing statue of the goddess Aphrodite for the city of Knidos in approximately 350 BCE (Stokstad). This statue was extremely controversial at the time because this is the absolute first time a sculptor has depicted a goddess or woman in general completely nude. As a result, many artists copied the statue, Aphrodite of Knidos, because of the influence it played on the advancement of art and the portrayal of women at the time.

The reason Praxiteles was allowed to portray Aphrodite naked preparing for a bath was because she was the goddess of love and it seemed appropriate. An old legend revolves around this piece where apparently Aphrodite traveled to Knidos to see Praxiteles’ statue of her, but exclaimed “Where did Praxiteles see me naked?” (Stokstad) This is very much representative of how controversial showing the naked female body was at this time where Aphrodite herself was shocked.

http://imgc.allpostersimages.com/images/P-473-488-90/40/4009/3EIWF00Z/posters/aphrodite-of-cnidus-copy-of-the-famous-version-by-praxiteles-4th-century-bc.jpg

She is holding intricately carved drapery in her left hand and is covering herself with her right hand. This body position is meant to give some modesty to Aphrodite, but actually draws more attention to the fact that she is naked. Her body is fairly naturalistic in that she appears very fleshy, strong, and well-toned. Her drapery, on the other hand, is intricately carved, which juxtaposes nicely with her smooth and supple looking body.

The majority of other recreations of Aphrodite were influenced by the Aphrodite of

http://centros.edu.xunta.es/iesoteropedrayo.ourense/dptos/gre/escultura/venus_de_milo_2.jpg

Knidos and this is true of Aphrodite of Melos, also called Venus de Milo. This free-standing statue was found on the Aegean island of Melos. Both statues give Aphrodite a calm, almost dreamy gaze, as well as a similar note of seduction in the way their bodies are contorted. Aphrodite of Melos is seen with her drapery almost falling off her hips in a fluid and erotic way, very characteristic of Hellenistic art. And as we saw before, Aphrodite of Knidos is nude.

Both bodies are forming an almost S-shape from their head to their feet, with a leg protruding outward. Furthermore, her crisp looking drapery juxtaposes against her smooth skin just like that of Aphrodite of Knidos. In both statues, there is softer modelling of the body compared to that of male statues of the time and blurred details of the musculature of the human form; this was characteristic of Hellenistic studies of femininity (Boardman, 218).

Boardman, John. Greek Art. New York, NY: Thames and Hudson, 1996. Print.

Stokstad, Marilyn. Art: A Brief History. Fourth Edition. (Prentice-Hall, 2009).

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