Aphrodite of Knidos
- Title:
- Aphrodite of Knidos
- Collection:
- Cornell Cast Collection
- Creator:
- Unknown (Roman copy)
Praxiteles (Greek original)
- Photographer:
- Mericle, Danielle
- Date:
- ca. 1890-1900
2nd century CE (Roman copy)
ca. 350-340 BCE (Praxitelean original)
2008 (image)
- Location:
- Klarman Hall Atrium, Cornell University
previously Goldwin Smith Hall (Room 119)
previously Goldwin Smith Hall, Room G23) - ID Number:
- CCC_0926
- Accession Number:
- Sage no. 253
282 - File Name:
- CCC_0926.tif
- Culture:
- Roman, after Greek
- Style/Period:
- Roman Imperial, after Classical Greek
- Work Type:
- casts (sculpture)
- Materials/Techniques:
- plaster cast (sculpture)
marble sculpture in the round (original) - Subject:
- Aphrodite (Greek deity)
- Image View Type:
- overall
- Image View Description:
- from front
- Measurement:
- 212 x 76 x 40 (centimeters, height x width x diameter)
- Description:
- This is a cast of a standing, nude statue of Aphrodite. It is a Roman copy of the famous Aphrodite of Knidos, a fourth century BCE Greek original by the sculptor Praxiteles. The goddess stands in contrapposto, placing her weight on her right leg, bending her left knee forward, and resting her left foot back. Her head is turned slightly towards her left, her gaze is low, and her wavy hair is tied back and adorned with a narrow headband. She holds her right hand in front of her pubic area. On her left upper arm, Aphrodite wears a thin band. In this cast, part of the goddess' left forearm is broken away. Prior to conservation in winter 2014/2015, the garment she held in her left hand, the hydria over which it fell, and part of the strut connecting her hip to the garment were broken away from the rest of the cast (see ID no. 282). These have been reattached, as she is displayed in the image attached to this record. This cast is pieced together with obvious joins at the neck, right arm, and upper thighs. This copy is known as the Venus of Colonna, and it is one of several extant copies of Praxiteles' Aphrodite of Knidos. From January until July 2015, this object was exhibited in the Bartels Gallery, Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, as part of an exhibition titled "Cast and Present: Replicating Antiquity in the Museum and the Academy." This cast was conserved in winter 2014/2015.
- Notes:
- Items in the Cornell Cast Collection are meant for inventory and reference purposes. Metadata may not be complete in all cases.
Museo Pio Clementino no. 812 - Bibliography:
- Andrew Stewart, Greek Sculpture (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1990), 176-178, figs. 503-504
Christine Mitchell Havelock, The Aphrodite of Knidos and Her Successors (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1995) - Related Work:
- ID no. 282 is most of the missing portion of the statue (left hand, garment, hydria).
- Repository:
- Cornell University (current)
Rome, Vatican Museums (original) - Collecting Program:
- Cornell Collections of Antiquities
- Format:
- Image
- Rights:
- The images in the Cornell Collection of Antiquities: Casts are protected by copyright, and the copyright holders are their creators, generally Cornell University Library, Annetta Alexandridis, and Verity Platt. This collection of plaster casts owned by Cornell University was photographed by Cornell University Library, Alexandridis, Platt, and Andreya L. Mihaloew from 2010-2015, with funding from a Digital Collections in Arts and Sciences Grant to Annetta Alexandridis. Cornell is providing access to the materials for research and personal use. The written permission of any copyright and other rights holders is required for distribution, reproduction, or other use that extends beyond what is authorized by fair use and other statutory exemptions. Responsibility for making an independent legal assessment of an item and securing any necessary permissions ultimately rests with persons desiring to use the item. Please contact Annetta Alexandridis and Verity Platt for more information about this collection, or to request permission to use these images.