The goddess may also have been represented hiding her pubes with one hand, while the other held a drapery resting on a vase or amphora containing washing water or various perfumes. This is the position chosen in works such as the “Venus Braschi” in Munich (Ill. 2) or the Aphrodite from the Ludovisi Collection (Ill. 3). Venus bathing was one of the favourite topics of Greek and then Roman artists, as it was a pretext for the detailed observation of the female body.
Ill. 1. Bronze figurine of Aphrodite, first half of the 3rd century BC, found in Sidon, Lebanon, H.: 23.20 cm. Musée du Louvre, Paris, inv. no. Br 413.
This the
iconography “Aphrodite
is of
inspired Knidos”,
by the
renowned masterpiece sculpted by the Greek sculptor Praxiteles in the 4th century BC. It was the first lifesize representation of the nude female form. Although it is now lost, it inspired many works in which Venus appears undressed in this position,
Ill. 2. Sculpture inspired by the “Aphrodite of
which is both modest and imbued with
Knidos”, known as the “Venus Braschi”.
sensuality (Ill. 1).
Staatliche Antikensammlungen und Glyptothek, Munich, inv. no. 258.