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Marble statue of Aphrodite

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Eros, God of Love

Eros, God of Love
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Marble statue of Aphrodite

Period:
Imperial
Date:
1st or 2nd century A.D.
Culture:
Roman
Medium:
Marble
Dimensions:
H. with plinth 62 1/2 in. (158.8 cm)
Classification:
Stone Sculpture
Credit Line:
Purchase, 1952
Accession Number:
52.11.5

This artwork is currently on display in Gallery 162

  • Description

    Copy of a Greek statue of the 3rd or 2nd century B.C.

    The goddess of love is shown as though surprised at her bath. Originally, her arms reached forward to shield her breasts and pubis in a gesture that both concealed and accentuated her sexuality.

    Statues of Aphrodite in the nude proliferated during the Hellenistic period. All were inspired to some degree by the Aphrodite of Knidos, created in the fourth century b.c. by the famous Greek sculptor Praxiteles. That statue, the first major Greek work to show the goddess without clothing, was celebrated throughout antiquity as one of the seven wonders of the world. This particular work has the same gesture of modesty as the Knidia and is very similar to another Roman copy, the so-called Medici Venus, which has stood in the Tribuna of the Uffizi Gallery in Florence since 1688. During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, it was considered one of the finest ancient works in existence.

  • References

    Alexander, Christine. 1953. "A Statue of Aphrodite." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 11(9): pp. 241-51, Bulletin Cover.
    LIMC II, 53, no.420

    von Bothmer, Dietrich. 1958. "Greek Marble Sculptures." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 16(6): pp. 187, 192.

    Cittadini, Rita. 1997. "Figure Femminili Di Lisippo." Bulletino d'Arte 100: pp. 64, 70, figs. 16a-b, 29.

    Picón, Carlos A., et al. 2007. Art of the Classical World in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, no. 435, pp. 374, 491.

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