Aphrodite of Cnidus

120 - 130.
Room 073

The Roman copy of Praxiteles’s most famous work was made circa 350 B. C. for the sanctuary of the goddess in Cnidus (Asia Minor). As the first female monumental nude in the history of art, in Antiquity the statue already attracted tourism (Pliny, Natural History 36,20). Aphrodite could be seen before taking a bath, leaving her dress on top of a water receptacle, as may be seen in two Roman versions of the statue in the Musei Vaticani.

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Inventory number: E000054
Author: Roman Sculptor
Title: Aphrodite of Cnidus
Date: 120 - 130
Medium: White marble
Dimension: Height: 40 cm; Width: 30 cm; Base/bottom: 25 cm; Weight: 35.6 Kg
Provenance: Royal Collection

Bibliography +

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Ricard, Robert, Marbres Antiques du Musee du Prado a Madrid, Feret & Fils, Burdeos, 1923, pp. 80.

Blanco, Antonio, Catálogo de la escultura, Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid, 1957, pp. 50.

Blanco, Antonio; Lorente, Manuel, Catálogo de la escultura. Museo del Prado, Patronato Nacional de Museos, Madrid, 1981, pp. nº54.

Bajo el signo de Fortuna: esculturas clásicas del Museo del Prado, Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid, 1999, pp. 38.

Museo Nacional del Prado, Escultura clásica: guía, Fundación Marcelino Botín; Museo del Prado, Santander, 1999, pp. 84.

Schröder, Stephan F., Catálogo de la escultura clásica: Museo del Prado, II, Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid, 2004, pp. 114-118.

Schröder, Stephan F. (ed), Entre dioses y hombres: esculturas clásicas del Albertinum de Dresde y el Museo del Prado, Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid, 2008, pp. 178-181.