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Greek

Aphrodite, 199-100 BCE

Now On View

Description

Maker

  • Unknown

Culture

Greek

Title

Aphrodite

Year

199-100 BCE

Medium

Bronze

Materials/Techniques

Materials

  • bronze

Techniques

  • lost-wax process

Dimensions

Height: 47.3 cm (18 5/8 inches)

Type

  • Sculpture

Credit

Museum Appropriation Fund and Special Gift Fund

Object Number

26.117

Projects & Publications

Publications

Why Art Museums? The Unfinished Work of Alexander Dorner

A Handbook of the Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design

Classical Bronzes

Exhibition History

Exhibition History

An Exhibition of Classical Antiquities

September 1, 1981 - April 1, 1982

Ancient Greek and Roman Galleries

This bronze figure of Aphrodite, now green from oxidation, once would have been a warm brown. To heighten a sense of naturalism, the eyes and hair ribbon were inlaid with silver and the lips with copper. The left arm, reconstructed from the shoulders down, now shows her holding an apple; it was originally upraised like her right, to adjust a necklace, now missing. The right foot and ankle have also been replaced. These restorations date to the early 19th century.

In the 4th century BCE, the first nude image of Aphrodite was sculpted, breaking a long tradition of depicting Greek goddesses clothed. It was fitting, however, that the goddess of love and beauty was the first to be portrayed in this new way. The motif became so popular that hundreds of such images of Aphrodite survive from ancient Greece and Rome, where they adorned homes, gardens, and sanctuaries. Exceedingly rare today, bronze examples like this one must have been prized possessions of wealthy patrons.

Use

The images on this website can enable discovery and collaboration and support new scholarship, and we encourage their use. This object is in the public domain (CC0 1.0). This object is Aphrodite with the accession number of 26.117. To request high-resolution files or new photography, please send an email to imagerequest@risd.edu and include your name and the object's accession number.

Feedback

We view our online collection as a living documents, and our records are frequently revised and enhanced. If you have additional information or have spotted an error, please send feedback to curatorial@risd.edu.

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