Capitoline Aphrodite
- Title:
- Capitoline Aphrodite
- Collection:
- Cornell Cast Collection
- Creator:
- Unknown
- Photographer:
- Mericle, Danielle
- Date:
- ca. 1890-1900
2nd c. CE (Roman copy)
ca. 250-150 BCE (Hellenistic original)
- Site:
- Rome, Viminal Hill (discovery site, late 17th c.) (original)
- Location:
- Klarman Hall, office of Admissions and Advising (Room KG 17), Cornell University
previously Goldwin Smith Hall (Room 122)
previously Sibley Hall, Room 235
Rome, Viminal Hill (discovery site, late 17th c.) (original) - ID Number:
- CCC_0928
- Accession Number:
- Sage no. 273
746 - File Name:
- CCC_0928.tif
- Culture:
- Roman, after Greek
- Style/Period:
- Roman, after Hellenistic
- 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:
- 184 (centimeters, height)
plinth: 56 x 45.5 (centimeters, width x diameter) - Description:
- This is a cast of a standing, nude statue of Aphrodite housed in the Capitoline Museums in Rome, known as the Capitoline Aphrodite. The goddess rests her weight on her straight left leg, relaxing her right leg, which is bent forward at the knee. She leans forward slightly, turns her head to her left, and looks ahead. Some of her long hair falls onto her back, some is tied at the top of her head. In a gesture of modesty that also serves to call attention to her nudity, the goddess bends her right arm across her torso to cover her breasts and moves her left hand to cover her pubic area. Her fringed drapery rests on the loutrophoros that stands by her left leg. Prior to conservation of the cast in winter 2014/2015, two of the fingers on Aphrodite's right hand were missing, and all of the fingers on her left hand were broken or missing. These have been restored. Stains and drip marks at the hips and legs were also cleaned. The cast is pieced together with obvious joins at the arms and hips. The Capitoline Aphrodite, a Roman copy of a Hellenistic original, is one of several Aphrodite types that are variations on and have origins in the mid-fourth century BCE Aphrodite of Knidos by the Greek sculptor Praxiteles. 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." It 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.
MC0409 - Bibliography:
- Francis Haskell and Nicholas Penny, Taste and the Antique: The Lure of Classical Sculpture 1500-1900 (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1981), 318-320
Christine Mitchell Havelock, The Aphrodite of Knidos and Her Successors (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1995), 74-76, fig. 18 - Repository:
- Cornell University (current)
Rome, Capitoline 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.