The statue titled, Torso of Venus, was a replica of the original work by Praxiteles. The Romans made the sculpture in 1st or 2nd century AD during the time of the Late Antiquity period; more specifically known as the Pre-Constantine period. Like the original, the statue was made out of marble. The Torso of Venus is a statue of the goddess Venus, known commonly as the goddess of love and beauty. It was said that she was born, or emerged, from the sea foam. Venus, or Aphrodite to the Greeks, was the embodiment of beauty, sexuality, love and fertility. I believe the Torso of Venus was the Roman version of “Aphrodite of Knidos”, which was one of the most famous works of the ancient Greek sculptor Praxiteles of Athens in the 4th century BC.
The voluptuous goddess is sculpted nude and you can see her torso is slightly angled forward, creating creases across her waist and above her navel. The way that the abdomen is defined suggests that she was likely standing with her weight on one leg, likely her left leg, while her right leg was probably slightly bent and sticking out in front of the left. I am not certain if the legs were not made or have fallen off and only the torso remains, but I believe they have probably fallen off or were dismantled, along with the arms and the head. Overall her body is a spiral composition. She has a slight turn of the body from the hips to the shoulders, combined with the outward thrust of the right hip, resulting in a fascinating S-shaped pose. The torso is carved with careful naturalism, with an effort to achieve ideal proportions and harmony of line. However, for there is no exaggeration or unbalanced emphasis, and the figure 's essential dignity is evident. The artist has made human beauty sublimated b...
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Works Cited
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Gill, N S. "Who Is the Roman Goddess Venus?" About.com Ancient / Classical History. About.com, n.d. Web. 15 Apr. 2014. .
Goddess Gift. "The Goddess Venus, Goddess of Romance and Beauty (Aphrodite)." N.p., Web. 12 Apr. 2014. .
Rayment, Kate. "Aphrodite: Venus: Goddess of Love and Beauty." InDepthInfo: Information Delivered In-Depth. InDepthInfo, n.d. Web. 15 Apr. 2014. .
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Lindemans, Micha F. "Diana." Encyclopedia Mythica: Mythology, Folklore, and Religion. 3 Mar. 1997. Web. 8 Oct. 2011. .
The Statue of a kouros depicts a Greek man in the nude. Although he looks like a man, the large scale, and the miss proportioned features makes it unnaturalistic. The toes are too long, the genetalia is unrealistically small, and the joint lines are exaggerated.
The original Laocoön statue was constructed by Athanadoros, Hagesander, Polydoros from Rhodes in the Hellenistic era. The large marble group that we now know as Laocoön Group was unearthed in 1506 CE, currently resides in the Vatican and may be a Roman copy of the famous Greek sculpture that Pliny the Elder described. , If the statue is a Roman copy, it was most likely commissioned by Augustus as a public works project to celebrate the fall of Troy that eventually led to the founding of Rome. However, if the marble statue is the original that was constructed by the sculptors from Rhodes, then the reasons for its construction could be as shrouded in mystery as its travels from Titus’s palace to Rome. Nonetheless, the origins of the statue
The back of the portrait is slightly slanted, allowing us to imagine the angle at which the portrait was positioned on its support. The portrait is the complete bust of Antonine Woman as Venus, minus the background medallion, which would have created a complete circle above her head. Imagining the medallion was still there, we envision the bust as being placed on a wall. This postition would cause the portrait to angle towards the on-looker and we assume she was placed at eye-level or slightly higher.
Ca.630 BCE. Limestone. This is a women freestanding statue in Greek art. Both of these two statues are youth sculpture and freestanding which are the naturalistically and not stocky. They do not have muscles and a strong body, I can only see they are being the lean body types. As the female statue, her feet are standing on the same level, but the male one is not. She is putting her right hand on her chest and wearing clothes to wrap her slim body. Thus, the Greek art only has little bit impact by Egyptians. Portraying nude men can be accepted, but for women it is not.
In classical Greek literature the subject of love is commonly a prominent theme. However, throughout these varied texts the subject of Love becomes a multi-faceted being. From this common occurrence in literature we can assume that this subject had a large impact on day-to-day life. One text that explores the many faces of love in everyday life is Plato’s Symposium. In this text we hear a number of views on the subject of love and what the true nature of love is. This essay will focus on a speech by Pausanius. Pausanius’s speech concentrates on the goddess Aphrodite. In particular he looks at her two forms, as a promoter of “Celestial Love” as well as “Common Love.” This idea of “Common Love” can be seen in a real life context in the tragedy “Hippolytus” by Euripides. This brings the philosophical views made by Pausanius into a real-life context.
It has been a couple of weeks, and our first child has arrived: a girl. We have decided to name her Aphrodite, for she is the symbol of the love between Gaea and I. We will teach her to be the symbol of love for our new world to learn. They must know that love is an important thing to have in order to be happy.
On the Acropolis of Athens, there are a large number of votive images dedicated to Athena the city goddess in various medium, including marble, terracotta, bronze, relief and vase painting. Among these votive images of Athena, most of them are represented in a standing pose, either frontally facing the viewers or showing her profile (e.g. the bronze Athena Promachos (figure 1)); some of them are captured in the middle of an action (e.g. Athena in Gigantomachy on the pediment of the Parthenon (fg. 2)). However, the so-called Endoios Athena is a statue of Athena represented in a seated position. Although the seated position is not rare in reliefs, such as Athena on the East frieze (fg. 3) and on the metopes of the Parthenon (fg. 3), the so-called Endoios Athena is the only seated marble statue of Athena on the Acropolis in the history. (Mylonopoulos, The Acropolis of Athens in the 6th and 5th Century BCE, Lecture Notes at Columbia University, March 31)
"Statuette of a standing maiden [Etruscan] (17.190.2066) | Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History | The Metropolitan Museum of Art." The Metropolitan Museum of Art - Home. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Feb. 2014.
The author of the Latin poem, The Vigil of Venus, remains a mystery, along with the date it was penned. Many have speculated who might have written this piece of poetry, but no one can be certain. It is assumed that it was written in early spring on the eve of the festival of Venus, and set it what might be Sicily. The writer is focused on the natural world, and seems motivated by love, spring, and hope of the renewal of both. Some believe this particular piece is seen through the eyes of Venus, known in Greek mythology as the mother of the Roman people. Critics might argue that this poem somehow suggests the imminent fall of the Roman Empire, and while I agree with this possible explanation, I could argue
The small, crudely carved statuette of an obese woman contrasts heavily with the graceful classical forms of sculpture such as Aphrodite of Cnidos, Praxiteles, 350 BCE. Although it would be difficult to associate the word beautiful with this statuette, there can be no doubt that it reflects the female form. The statuette has also been known as “la poire” or “the pear” due to its size and shape and more recently was donned the Woman from Willendorf. The removal of the title Venus served to take away the figurine’s status as a goddess and lower it to the human level, therefore allowing more consideration of the figurine’s purpose (Witcombe, sec. 3. The adage of the adage.
It is believed that it has Neoplatonic values and the nude Venus represents the idea of divine love. During this time period many poets had the "ideal" woman and Venus in this painting fits the description of the ideal woman during this time period. The ideal woman had porcelain skin, bright eyes, and light hair. Botticelli was influenced by the ideal woman depicted in this painting. The poet was inspired by an ode by Hesoid which describes the effects of Venus' creation.
Krén, Emil. Web Gallery of Art, image collection, virtual museum, searchable database of European fine arts (1000-1850). Emil Krén, Dec. 2011. Web. 7 Mar. 2012.
--- Goddesses, Whores, Wives and Slaves: Women in Classical Antiquity. New York: Schocken Books. 1995, 2010. Kindle Edition. Location 2733 of 6360.
Botticelli depicts Venus standing a relaxing pose with long golden wavy hair that falls to her knees skin blemish free and pale as the seafoam she’s born from with one hand (right) gently placed over her right breast she uses the other (left) grasping for