"Praxitelizing" female nudes



The Aphrodite of Cnidus is the best-known of all the statue types attributed to Praxiteles. This work is widely hailed as the origin of the female nude in Western art, however our view of the original model has become increasingly obscured.
The Female statuette, from the Pourtalès collection (Inv. 1084), wholly naked figure, reproduces the Polykleitian pose of the Diadumenos (the "Athlete crowning himself"): the shoulders and hips are twisted in opposing directions. The figure's proportions are harmonious and balanced. The headband tied around the hair recalls other statue types attributed to Praxiteles, although the arrangement of the hair is unlike that of the Venus of Arles, or the Aphrodite of Cnidus.
The statue of Aphrodite known as the "Esquiline Venus" (Inv. 1441) shows a naked female figure wearing sandals (the straps are depicted in low relief), standing with her weight on her right leg, her left foot raised slightly behind, and her torso inclined to the right. She seems to be adjusting or untying her hair, and may represent the type of Aphrodite Anadyomene ("emerging from the water"), or a woman preparing to bathe. An Egyptian-style vase is placed against her right leg, decorated with a cobra and standing on a box carved with roses. The young woman has placed a length of drapery on top of the vase.
The "Diana of Gabies" (Inv. Ma 529) may be a later work from the Hellenistic or Roman period, "in the manner of Praxiteles." However, the figure's typology – featuring a deliberately three-dimensional composition and highly realistic, carefully chiseled folds in the draperies – suggests a copy of a bronze original. This hypothesis would date the figure to around 300 BC; it may be a work by one of Praxiteles's sons.
The "Leconfield head" was once thought to be an original work by Praxiteles himself, dating from the end of his career, circa 330 BC. The head may have been carved after Praxiteles's death, by an immediate follower – possibly one of his sons.