"The Aphrodite and Poseidon of Melos: A Comparative Study," Acta Archaeologica 70. Sculpture in the National Archaeological Museum, Athens (Los Angeles) 290-91 no. The Oxford Classical Dictionary (Oxford) 120 (Aphrodite). 146.Ĭurtis, Gregory, Disarmed: The Story of the Venus de Milo. "Ancient Techniques of Making Joins in Marble Statuary" in Marble: Art Historical Techniques and Scientific Perspectives on Ancient Sculpture (Malibu) 135-62, esp. The Sculpture of the Hellenistic Age (New York) 159-60, figs. Whether you admire the Aphrodite of Melos as a "masterpiece" or not, she challenges us to look at her from different historical perspectives and artistic points of view.īieber, M. Little more than a century after our Aphrodite was carved, a pan-Mediterranean Roman empire emerged (30 B.C.). Nevertheless, the Melos statue belongs historically to an unsettled political period, when many of the Greek citystates were losing ground to the Romans, who were increasingly interferring in the world of the Eastern Mediterranean. Olympus became increasingly popular, especially Aphrodite who is shown in a number of new ways: nude, about to bathe, emerging from the bath, or in the company of her son Eros (Cupid). An inscribed base (now lost) names or ander of Antioch-on-the-Meander in Turkey as sculptor (see line drawing).ĭuring the Hellenistic period, less traditional views of the gods of Mt. During the Hellenistic period (323-30 B.C.) such sculpture became popular, and eventually the Romans acquired similar tastes. Therefore, she was probably not a cult statue, but rather a type of decoration (not unlike modern "garden art"). Originally she stood in a niche in a gymnasium, or exercise yard, where men exercised in the nude or talked with friends (women were excluded). The statue was found on the volcanic Greek island of Melos in the Aegean Sea in 1822. All these stylistic characteristics have helped scholars assign the figure to the mid-2nd c. Since no one point of view is emphasized, one wants to look at the figure from all angles. The garment appears ready to slip off at any moment, however, and the contrast between smooth, bare flesh and concealing drapery invites the spectator to imagine the body underneath. Instead, only the torso is nude, and the clothing covers just the lower half of the body. The drapery of the figure is suggestive as well: this is neither the blatantly naked goddess of Near Eastern myth, nor the fully clad figure of earlier generations of Greek art. Thus she may be a personfication rather than Aphrodite alone.Ī drawing of the lost base depicts a cutting for a vertical strut near the left foot to help her support the missing attribute. Perhaps a pun was intended, for the Greek word for apple (mêlon) recalls the name of the island and city of Melos. Originally, our figure held an apple as a love-token awarded by prince Paris of Troy. Though both arms are incomplete, careful inspection of the angle of the lowered right shoulder and raised left shoulder indicate that both limbs were held to the front and slightly away from the body, with the right arm crossing the torso diagonally. Attachment holes once held metal earrings and a hairband. The hair is parted in the center with locks pulled to the back of the head and loosely knotted a few tresses hang down the neck. Notice too that her head is fairly small relative to the rest of the body, and her features quite bland. Aphrodite stands nearly frontal in a relaxed, sinuous pose. The use of two smaller blocks of marble may have been cheaper than employing a single, huge block of stone. (A related statue, the Poseidon of Melos now in Athens, was made in the same way). The sections join horizontally at hip level, and the costume masks the break. Viewers often do not realize that this statue was made from two blocks of stone: the torso and head, and the draped lower body. 150 B.C., now in the Louvre Museum (Paris, France), along with fragments of the upper and lower left arm and hand with an apple. Her over-lifesized statue in the Wilcox faces you as you enter the front door, and is a plaster cast of a Greek original of ca. According to tradition, she was born from the sea foam (aphros) and came to land on Cyprus. Aphrodite (Roman Venus) was the goddess of beauty and erotic love in Classical Mythology. Cast of an original in the Louvre Museum, Paris, France.
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