The Venus of Arles



Some commentators identify this as a work executed very early in Praxiteles's career, on the basis of the half-draped statue type, a precursor to the full nudity of the Aphrodite of Cnidus and its prevailing air of fresh youthfulness, anticipating the full flowering of the master's mature style. This idea of the "progressive unveiling" of Praxiteles's nudes is, however, based on modern concepts of physical modesty, wholly inappropriate as a criterion for the dating of his figures. The heavy, static, even illogical treatment and arrangement of the drapery would seem to suggest a work "in the manner of" Praxiteles, executed during the reign of the Roman Emperor Augustus, at the dawn of the 1st century AD. However, a similar statue type is also seen in a much earlier terracotta statuette. Could the Venus of Arles be a copy of the statue of Aphrodite which stood alongside the effigy of Phryne in the sanctuary at Thespiai, as described by Pausanias? Or a version of the draped figure of Aphrodite chosen by the inhabitants of the island of Kos, while those of Cnidus preferred the naked goddess?